
PRESENTED BY 



Lt 



- 



THE GOLDEN CITY. 



By the Same Author. 



LECTURES ON THE NEW DISPENSATION. 
LETTERS TO BEE CHER ON THE DIVINE TRINITY. 
THE NEW VIEW OF HELL. 
LETTERS TO BEE CHER ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 



All the above Works, together with the present Volume, 
will be sent to any address on the receipt of $5.00 by the 
Publishers. 






The Golden City. 

BY 
B. F. BARRETT, 

Author of " Lectures on the New Dispensation/' " The New View of 

Hell," " Letters to Beecher on the Divine Trinity," 

"The Future Life," etc., etc. 



And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. — Rev. xxi. 18. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, 

624, 626 & 628 MARKET STREET. 
1874. 



/ 



Co P y i 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



:^ . ^jx ^M 

^^^ J. FAGAN & SON, ^b*^ 

^^C^^, STEREOTYPERS, PHILAD'A. *Siir^ 

»^ XjJX ^3* 






TO 



WHOSE PRESENCE IS AN INSPIRATION; WHOSE COUNTENANCE, A JOY; 
WHOSE SMILE, A BENEDICTION; WHOSE DAILY LIFE, A HYMN; 
WHOSE SERENE TEMPER, UNWAVERING TRUST, CHEER- 
FUL SPIRIT AND HEAVENLY PURPOSE 
HAVE BLESSED MY LIFE — 

THIS VOLUME, WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT, IS 
AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



THE visions of St. John as recorded in the Apoc- 
alypse, are confessedly among the grandest ever 
experienced. Throughout the domains of poetry or 
fiction there is nothing to be compared with them 
in sublimity. But what is the import of these visions ? 
What do they typify or foreshadow ? And how is 
their meaning to be elicited ? 

These questions have been asked a thousand 
times; and the multitude of conflicting answers 
which have been given by various commentators, 
have impressed the wiser ones with the conviction 
that God must raise up " some theological Newton," 
and endow him with an extraordinary measure of 
his Spirit, before we can hope to arrive at the true 
meaning of this wonderful Book. And not a few 
have expected that some such divinely authorized 
expositor would one day arise. 

The reader, doubtless, will smile incredulously 
when I assure him that this expectation has actually 
been fulfilled in the person of Emanuel Swedenborg. 
If so, my sole response to his incredulous yet par- 
donable smile, is : " Come and see." 

The grand Key to the treasures of wisdom in the 
Apocalypse, which Swedenborg offers to all who 



Vlll PREFACE. 

care to use it, is the principle of Correspondence, or 
the immutable relation between the real and phe- 
nomenal, which is like that between soul and body. 
This Key I have applied to the interpretation of 
some of the principal symbols in the chapter which 
records the vision of the New Jerusalem and its 
descent from God out of heaven. And the appli- 
cation, though necessarily limited, is sufficiently ex- 
tensive, I trust, to demonstrate the power and value 
of the Key ; and sufficiently satisfactory in its re- 
sults, I hope, to incite to further inquiry. 

To vindicate Swedenborg from the charge or sus- 
picion of being a sect-founder, is one of the main 
purposes of the book. This I have aimed to do, by 
showing that the church signified by the New Jeru- 
salem, whereof he claims to have been the divinely 
commissioned herald, is not a sect nor a visibly or- 
ganized body of any kind ; but is coextensive and 
identical, indeed, with God's kingdom here below. 
Whether I have succeeded in this attempt, the reader 
must himself be the judge. But if I have failed, the 
work, I hope, will not be entirely without interest 
nor without profit. 

B. F. B. 
West Philadelphia, Oct. 14, 1873. 



CONTENTS. 



I. 

PAGE 

STA TE OF APOCAL YPTIC INTERPRE TA TION . 1 3 
Radical Disagreement of Expositors . . . 19 

II. 

NEED AND EXPECTATION OF A DIVINELY AU- 
THORIZED INTERPRETER .... 26 

This Expectation Answered 33 

The Grand Key to its Mysteries 34 

A Good Recommendation of this Key . . . 37 

III. 

THE NEW JERUSALEM— THE GOLDEN CITY . 40 
How Interpreted by many Expositors . . .41 
View of the Literalists 44 

IV. 

SWEDENBORG ON THE NEW JERUSALEM . . 49 
His Explanation of the Symbol . . . .50 

Why that Particular City? 53 

"The Bride, the Lamb's Wife" ..... 55 

"Having the Glory of God" 58 

Measured with a Golden Reed 59 

"And the City was Pure Gold" . . . .61 

The Cubical Form of the City 63 

Its Foundations, Walls and Gates . . . .64 

Its Temple 66 

The Light of the City 67 

ix 



CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

No Night There ........ 69 

The Sovereignty of its Denizens . . . .72 

The Title to Citizenship 73 



V. 

THE NEW JERUSALEM NOT A SECT 
Regarded as a Sect by Many 
The True Church, but not a Sect . 
Externals and Internals of Men 
Testimony of Scripture 
The New Jerusalem — The Communion of Saints 



VI. 



77 
78 
80 

84 
88 
94 



THE OLD AND THE NEW CHRLSTLAN CHURCH . 100 
End of the First Christian Era .... 101 

Effects of the Last Judgment 103 

The Newness in the Churches 105 

The New Jerusalem Descending 107 

The Newness Everywhere 109 

VII. 

TEST OF MEMBERSHLP LN THE NEW JERUSA- 
LEM in 

Doctrinal Beliefs no Adequate Test . . .112 
Who Receive the Heavenly Doctrines? . . . 113 
Do Falsities of Faith Disqualify? . . . .116 
The Fundamentals of the New Jerusalem . .120 
Who Worship the Divine Humanity? . . .122 



VIII. 

VARLE TY LN THE NE W JER US ALE M . 
Diversity in all the Works of God 
Diversity in the Angelic Heavens 
swedenborg and paul agree 
Illustrated by the Churches in Asia 
Externals and Internals of the New Jerusalem 
Can the New Jerusalem be Organized? . 



126 
126 
127 
129 
131 
134 
138 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



IX. 



CATHOLICITY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 
The Past Teaching of the Church . 
Different Beliefs Inevitable 
Illustrations of Catholicity . . . 
Wider than Christendom 
Its Freedom Equal to its Catholicity 



PAGB 

141 

143 
144 

147 
152 
156 



A SECOND PAUL'S IDEA OF THE NEW JERUSA 
LEM 

Clowes in Relation to Swedenborg 

" The True Christian Religion * 

A Remarkable Circumstance 

Conversion to the New Christianity 

His Life and Character 

A Scrap from His Autobiography 

Tribute to His Memory 

His Idea of the New Jerusalem 

Opposed to a New Organization 

The True Church of Christ 



159 
160 
161 
162 
164 
167 
168 
171 
172 

174 
176 



XI. 

CONCURRENT TESTIMONY OF RE CENT WRITERS. 1 78 

Hyde 178 

Worcester 180 

Sears 183 

James 184 

The New Church Magazine 187 



XII. 

CONSTELLATION OF INDEPENDENT WIT- 
NESSES 189 

Channing 189 

Robertson 195 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Beecher 199 

SCUDDER 204 

SlMONDS 207 

M'lLVAINE 2IO 

Caird . 213 

Father Hyacinthe 216 

The New York Independent 218 

The Edinburgh Review 219 



XIII. 

SOME PRACTICAL INFERENCES . . _ . .222 

Discourages the Spirit of Sect 223 

Inference Touching the Ordinances .... 224 
Respecting a New Organization .... 225 

Discourages Spiritual Pride 227 

Dissipates a Popular Idea 229 

Rebukes the Spirit of Proselytism .... 230 
Encourages Free Thought and Religious Growth . 232 
Promotes Unity, Peace and Concord . . . .237 



XIV. 



CONCLUSION 



244 



The Golden City, 



i. 

STATE OF APOCAL YPTIC INTERPRETATION. 

THE twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse or 
book of Revelation, opens with a vision of a 
new heaven and a new earth, and "the holy city 
New Jerusalem coming down from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 
Then follows a description of this remarkable city ; 
— in which are given its form and dimensions, the 
material of its foundations and walls, the number and 
situation of its gates, the way in which it was lighted, 
and the character of those who would enter into it. 

"And the city," it is said, "was pure gold, like 
unto clear glass." 

Before entering upon an explanation of this re- 
markable vision (for John says he was " in the 
spirit " when he saw what he here describes), or 
attempting to show what was symbolized and fore- 
shadowed by the New Jerusalem descending out of 
heaven from God, there are some preliminary ques- 
tions which deserve to be considered. And the first 
is : The state of Apocalyptic Interpretation, — the 
consideration of which will disclose the uncertainty, 

2 13 



14 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

if not utter ignorance of the meaning and purpose 
of the book of Revelation, according to the confes- 
sion of even the most learned expositors. 

For the difficulties which commentators have en- 
countered in the interpretation of this mysterious 
Book, are generally conceded. But how great have 
been their perplexity with regard to its meaning, 
how unsatisfactory their methods and contradictory 
their conclusions, and how feeble the confidence 
which almost every expositor has come to feel either 
in his own or others' interpretations, may best be 
seen from their own confessions, some of which I 
proceed to cite. 

Mr. Birks, in his Elements of 'Prophecy , says: 

"This present state of Apocalyptic interpretation is 
one, among many features in the actual condition of the 
church, which should lead the Christian to humiliation 
and sorrow. That holy prophecy which was given for the 
guidance of believers to the end of time with such a pecu- 
liar solemnity and so repeated a blessing, still remains, to 
most Christians, a watchword of silent contempt, a signal 
for controversy, or a field for conjecture. Few, compara- 
tively, seem to have gained for themselves an assured con- 
viction even on the main outlines of its meaning. The 
bare fact that a school of interpreters should have arisen, 
whose aim is to prove that all before them have quite mis- 
taken even its general object, and this after seventeen 
hundred years have passed, is a most humbling lesson of 
caution and prayer." — p. 264. 

Mr. Maitland, in his Second Inquiry, remarks : 

" I cannot better express the opinion which has been 



CONFESSIONS OF EXPOSITORS. 1 5 

forced upon my own mind, than in the words of a writer 
in the Eclectic Review : he says — ' When we reflect on 
the number and talents of the men who have attempted to 
illustrate the visions of St. John, and the great discordance 
of opinions, it would seem as if there must be something 
radically wrong, some fatal error, at the very foundation 
of all their systems of explanation, which is 5 one great 
cause of the mistakes and confusion that appear to pervade 
them all. What this is deserves to be maturely considered. ' 
Whose language this is, I know not ; but I wonder that 
the same view has not forced itself on all who have re- 
flected on the subject." — p. 86. 

Again, this same writer says : 

"At the point from which expository interpretation [of 
the Apocalypse] sets out, discrepancy [among expositors] 
begins. On what single point are they agreed ? I really 
believe it would be a matter of difficulty to point out 
one . . . Now, when I state that this great discrepancy 
leads me to suspect some error common to all these sys- 
tems, I am not speaking only my own sentiments. What 
Mr. Scott has said respecting one part of the subject, I 
feel, indeed, to apply to all. ' The different opinions of 
eminently learned and able men on the subject, and the 
extreme difficulty which they seem to find in making one 
part of their interpretation consistent with the others, are 
powerful arguments in my mind that they have not fact 
and truth to bear them out.' " — p. 81. 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in the preface to his Commentary 
on the Revelation, after specifying the various systems 
of interpretation which have been maintained, adds : 

"My readers may naturally expect that T should either 
give a decided preference to some one of the opinions 



1 6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

stated above, or produce one of my own. I can do 
neither. Nor can I pretend to explain the book. I do 
not understand it ; and in the things which concern so 
sublime and awful a subject, I dare not, as my predecessors, 
indulge in conjectures. I have read elaborate works on 
the subject, and each seemed right till another was exam- 
ined. I am satisfied that no certain mode of interpreting 
the prophecies of this book has yet been found out ; and 
I will not add another monument to the littleness or folly 
of the human mind by endeavoring to strike out a new 
course. I repeat it, I do not understand the book ; and 
I am satisfied that not one who has written on the subject 
knows anything more of it than myself." 

Martin Luther doubted about the Apocalypse being 
canonical, and did not attempt to explain it, recom- 
mending its interpretation to those more enlightened 
than himself. " Luther's sentiments on this subject," 
says Professor Michaelis, "are delivered not in an 
occasional dissertation on the Apocalypse, but in the 
preface to his German translation of it, a translation 
designed not merely for the learned, but for the illit- 
erate, and even for children." And in the preface 
to the edition printed in 1534, Luther divides 
prophecies into three classes, the third of which 
contains visions without explanations of them; and 
of these he says : 

" As long as a prophecy remains unexplained and has no 
determinate interpretation, it is a hidden silent prophecy, 
and is destitute of the advantages which it ought to afford 
to Christians. This has hitherto happened to the Apoca- 
lypse : for though many have made the attempt, no one to 



DR. STUART ON THE APOCALYPSE. 1/ 

the present day has brought anything certain out of it, 
but several have made incoherent stuff out of their own 
l^rain. On account of these uncertain interpretations and 
hidden senses, we have hitherto left it to itself, especially 
since some of the ancient Fathers believed that it was not 
written by the apostle, as related in Lib. III., Hist. Eccles. 
In this uncertainty we for our part still let it remain : but 
do not prevent others from taking it to be the work of St. 
John the Apostle, if they choose. And because I should 
be glad to see a certain interpretation of it, I will afford 
to other and higher spirits occasion to reflect." — Quoted 
in Prof. Michaelis' Introduction to the New Testament. 

Moses Stuart, for many years Professor of Sacred 
Literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover, 
in the preface to his work on the Apocalypse, says : 

" Not long after the death of John, the Apocalypse ap- 
pears to have been regarded as a wonderful and mys- 
terious book, and to have given occasion to many strange 
and very discrepant interpretations. From that time 
down to the present, a similar state of things has existed 
in regard to the exposition of this work. And even with 
all the light which recent critical study has thrown upon 
the Scriptures in general, there yet remains, as is generally 
confessed, not a little of obscurity resting upon the Apoc- 
alypse. 

" Must this state of things always continue? This is a 
question of great interest to those who believe that the 
Apocalypse rightfully belongs to the Canon of Scripture. 
Hitherto, scarcely any two original and independent ex- 
positors have been agreed in respect to some points very 
important in their bearing upon the interpretation of the 
book ... At a period somewhat early, the Apocalypse 
2 * B 



1 8 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

was excepted by some of the churches from the Canon 
of books to be publicly read for edification. And even 
after this exclusion ceased, it was still practically abstained 
from or disregarded by the great mass of Christians, 
from a consciousness that they were unable with any cer- 
tainty to discover its true meaning, and from want of 
confidence in the expositions of it which had already been 
given. 

" Such, I regret to say, is still the state of things ex- 
tensively, with regard to the Book of Revelation. Practi- 
cally, the prophetic parts of it are almost, if not entirely, 
excluded from the Scriptures. In spite of all which those 
recent interpreters have done, who find in it an epitomized 
civil and ecclesiastical history of ages remote from the 
time when it was written, confidence in their expositions 
has been, and is, generally withheld." 

In the preface to Calmet's Literal Commentary on 
the Apocalypse, (art. 4,) this distinguished writer 
says : 

" When I commenced my labors upon this book, I was 
in no way prepossessed in its favor. I considered it to 
be an enigma, the explication of which was impossible to 
man without a particular revelation. I regarded all com- 
mentators who had undertaken its explanation, as persons 
who, being in the midst of darkness, move on at adventure 
whithersoever their good or ill fortune may lead them. ' ' 

But, on a closer examination of the subject, Calmet 
fancied that the larger part of the difficulties he at 
first encountered, disappeared. He thought it was 
only requisite, as he says, to despoil the figures of 
the Apocalypse of their prophetical and enigmatical 
air, to give to things their veritable names and their 



DISAGREEMENT OF EXPOSITORS. 1 9 

natural face, in order to make the Apocalypse a veri- 
table history. And this is the way the explication 
of this enigmatical book becomes possible " without 
•a particular revelation ! " If the only alternative be 
between a satisfactory historical explanation of this 
book on the one hand, and the necessity of a partic- 
ular revelation on the other, one cannot help pressing 
the inquiry whether any historical explanation has 
yet been offered so satisfactory, as to show beyond 
a doubt that there is no necessity for a particular 
revelation that its true meaning may be fully under- 
stood. 

Dr. Less, Professor in the University of Gottingen, 
in his Authenticity, etc., of the New Testament, observes 
with regard to the Apocalypse : 

"After the inquiries and assertions of many centuries, 
we can ascertain of its meaning — absolutely nothing. 
We become confused and disgusted when we dive into 
expositions so numerous, various and contradictory. And 
the Revelation, after all that the learned and unlearned, 
fanatics and men of sound understanding, have said and 
dreamt concerning it, still remains — a sealed book. 
This is the opinion of all, who, from modest distrust of 
their own penetration, have consulted, I will not say all, 
the interpreters of this book — for that is absolutely im- 
possible, — but even a moderate part of them." — p. 205. 

RADICAL DISAGREEMENT OF EXPOSITORS. 

And not only have different expositors arrived at 
different conclusions as to the meaning and purpose 
of the Apocalypse, but they have differed in their 



20 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

methods of interpretation, and have embraced differ- 
ent and even antagonistic schemes with regard to it. 
Dr. Elliott, in his voluminous Commentary on the 
Apocalypse, mentions " three grand schemes of Apoc- 
alyptic interpretation," which " stand up face to face 
against each other." 

"The First," he says, "is that of the Praeterists ; 
restricting the subject of the prophecy, except in its two 
or three last chapters, to the catastrophes of the Jewish 
nation and old Roman empire, one or both, as accom- 
plished in the ist and 2d, and 5th and 6th centuries 
respectively. — The Second is the Futurists' Scheme ; 
making the whole of the Apocalyptic Prophecy (excepting, 
perhaps, the primary Vision and Letters to the Seven 
Churches,) to relate to things even now future. — The 
Third is what we may call emphatically the Protestant 
Historic Scheme of Interpretation : that which regards the 
Apocalypse as a prefiguration, in detail, of the chief 
[historic] events affecting the Church and Christendom, 
whether secular or ecclesiastical, from St. John's time to 
the consummation." — Vol. IV., p. 527, '8. 

Then see how different have been the views of 
the language of prophecy ; and how different, there- 
fore, the methods of interpretation adopted ! Some 
have held to the literal, some to the figurative, some 
to the mystical, and some to the spiritual method of 
interpretation, — the greater number, however, to the 
first two ; and others have favored a combination of 
some of these methods. But not a single expositor 
prior to the time of Swedenborg, seems to have had 
any adequate conception of the state of seership 



PROFESSOR STUARTS METHOD. 21 

from which the book professes to have been pro- 
duced. Professor Stuart gives us his method of 
arriving at its meaning in these words : 

"In order to find out his [John's] meaning, I have en- 
deavored to resort, as I would in all other cases, to the 
idiom ; to the times in which the author lived ; to the 
events then passing or speedily about to take place ; to the 
circumstances in which he and his readers were placed, 
and which called forth his work ; to the adaptation of the 
book to these circumstances ; and (in a word) to all that 
is local and belongs to the times in which it was written, 
whether it be peculiarities in the mode of expression, 
thought, reasoning, or feeling, or anything else which 
would influence an author's style or manner of arranging 
his composition. My aim has been to abide by this 
method of interpretation, throughout the work." — Pre- 
face to a Commentary on the Apocalypse. 

As if the Apocalypse were a merely human com- 
position with which the Holy Spirit had nothing to 
do ! As if its meaning were the writer's own — no 
deeper or other than John himself saw ! Or as if a 
divine composition, or things seen and heard " in the 
spirit!' were to be interpreted by the same method 
that we employ in ascertaining the meaning of an 
ancient poem or any uninspired historical narrative ! 

Then, take the following as an illustration of the 
tenacity with which some expositors adhere to the 
literal interpretation of prophecy, and the intense 
aversion with which they regard the spiritual method. 
One writer says : 

" We may now pass on to notice another principle to be 



22 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

observed in the interpretation of prophecy ; and that is, 
the adherence to the literal signification of the words of 
the text in all cases ; unless there be some clear intimation 
in the text or context, or some warrant from the general 
use of particular phrases to the contrary. ' ' — Eleinents of 
Prophecy, p. 129. 

Another says : 

"Let us first notice, as a general principle of interpre- 
tation, that the Scriptures [including, of course, the 
Apocalypse] are written in a plain and intelligible way, 
adapted to those to whom they were first addressed, and 
to all ages ... No farther deeper meaning should be 
allowed to shut out this first sense [i. e. the sense of the 
letter] " which, this writer declares "is to be held as the 
true and right sense." — Restoration of the Jews — Intro- 
ductory Remarks, p. 18. 

Again : 

"The prevalence of the spiritual interpretation will 
make prophecy the scorn of the Jew and the infidel, and 
harden them in their unbelief. A principle, therefore, 
which undermines the foundations of our faith and hope, 
which gives the lie to the divine promises and represents 
God as an equivocator, must surely be rejected as false." 
— Ibid. p. 37. 

Others, again, reject the literal method, and with 
good reason insist that, as the design of all prophecy 
must have been the promotion of the interests of 
God's spiritual kingdom, it must be spiritually inter- 
preted. Of this class of expositors Mr. Pearson, 
Dr. Arnold and Dean Woodhouse are conspicuous 
representatives. The first of these writers, after re- 



SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION. 2$ 

marking upon the spiritual character and purpose of 
ancient prophecy in general, and laying down the 
principles by which we must arrive at the true 
meaning of the prophecies in the Apocalypse, says : 

"Such a view of this wonderful book, — at the same 
time that it enables us to avoid the difficulties which en- 
cumber the opinions of those persons who would apply it 
to objects unworthy of such a revelation, — affords the best 
answer to the charges of inconsistency », which may be rea- 
sonably urged against the systems of those persons who 
apply the prophecies of the Apocalypse to temporal objects ; 
^and to events, which, however great in themselves, must 
be regarded as of minor importance when they are con- 
sidered with reference to the fates and fortunes of that 
kingdom which is from everlasting to everlasting. ' ' — 
Prophetical Character and Inspiration of the Apocalypse, 
P- 53- 

Dr. Arnold, in his Sermons on Prophetical Interpre- 
tation, remarks : 

"But if it be asked, Why then was the language of 
prophecy so strong, if it was not meant to be literally ful- 
filled ? I answer, that the real subject of the prophecy, 
in its highest sense, is not the historical but the spiritual 
Babylon. . . . And it will be found, I think, a general 
rule in all the prophecies of the Scripture, that they con- 
tain expressions which will only be adequately fulfilled in 
their last and spiritual fulfilment." — p. 45. 

And Dean Woodhouse, remarking on the princi- 
ples of interpretation in the Introduction to his 
Treatise on the Apocalypse, says : 

"A third controling principle seemed also requisite, 
arising from a consideration of the nature and kind of that 



24 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

kingdom which had thus appeared to be the grand object 
of the prophecies. It is a kingdom not temporal but 
spiritual; not a kingdom of this world, not established 
by the means and apparatus of worldly power and pomp ; 
not having the external ensigns of royalty, but govern- 
ing the inward man by possession of the ruling princi- 
ples. ' The kingdom of God,' says our Lord, ' is within 
you.' 

" In adopting the rule now under consideration, I have 
been obedient to the direction of holy Scripture, which 
has required a spiritual interpretation of its mysteries : 
They are not to be taken according to the bare letter, nor 
in a carnal or worldly acceptation. The warfare of the 
Christian kingdom, (the subject of these prophecies,) is 
not to be carried on by worldly arms and battles. ... To 
obtain his destined dominion, Christ must reign in the 
hearts and consciences of his far extended subjects. His 
reign is advanced when Christian principles — when faith 
and righteousness and charity abound. It is retarded 
when ignorance, impurity, idolatrous superstition, infidel- 
ity, and wickedness prevail." — p. 15. 

Such being the acknowledged difficulties with re- 
gard to this wonderful book, — such the disagree- 
ments and contradictions among theologians, not 
only as to its meaning and purpose, but as to the 
method to be employed in its interpretation, that we 
do not wonder at the remark of a distinguished 
American expositor, (the latest, we believe, who has 
written on this subject,) when he says: "There are 
religious guides who make a merit of not under- 
standing it, and of not wishing to occupy themselves 
with it ; " nor, when he adds : 



WHAT IS NEEDED. 2$ 

" It is also manifest, if the Apocalypse is to be com- 
prehended by Christians, and made to serve them as a 
writing from God worthy of the Holy Ghost, that a new 
style of dealing with it must be inaugurated, and a differ- 
ent class of books made to take the place of the prevailing 
literature on the subject."-— Lectures on the Apocalypse 
by J. A. Seiss, D. D. Vol. I. Preface. 
3 



II. 



NEED AND EXPECTATION OF A DIVINELY 
AUTHORIZED INTERPRETER. 

IF the Apocalypse is to be retained among the 
canonical books of Scripture and to command 
the homage of intelligent and devout minds, it is 
obvious that some new method of interpretation 
must be applied, and one that will open up a more 
rational and consistent meaning in this book than 
previous expositors have been able to give us. 

And in view of the confessed darkness which has 
hitherto prevailed with respect to its meaning, and 
the confusion, contradiction and utter despair of 
commentators, is it unreasonable to expect a di- 
vinely authorized and illumined interpreter some 
day to arise, whose exposition and method shall so 
far exceed in reasonableness and consistency all that 
have preceded, as to prove him to be, indeed, a man 
sent of God ? The fact that previous expositors, 
according to their own confession, have signally 
failed in their efforts to unfold the meaning of this 
book, would seem to justify the expectation of some 
such divinely authorized interpreter. And not only 
so, but it has actually been the belief of many, that 
some such interpreter would one day arise, and be the 

26 



EXPECTATIONS OF THE CHURCH. 2J 

harbinger of that renovated and glorious state of the 
church which all Christians look for, and which is 
obviously required for the complete fulfilment of 
prophecy. Mr. Clissold, in his Apocalyptic Inter- 
pretation, says : 

" Surely a new interpreter giving a new interpretation, 
even as the church in offering an old interpretation, 
may plead the authority and infallibility of the truth, 
although not his own authority or infallibility. On the 
other hand, if by claims to a divine commission be meant 
claims to a degree of illumination more than ordinary, such 
'as the church does not profess to advance, and which con- 
stitute a person a preacher of new doctrines, or a new in- 
terpreter of old ones ; then, so far from such a person 
coming into collision with the authority of the church, 
the church has ever professed to believe that such an 
interpreter would arise, whom it would be her duty to 
follow. It is true that there have been differences of 
opinion as to who this person should be; some have 
thought that there would be a reappearance of John the 
Baptist, others of Elias; and others, again, that there 
would be neither of these, but some new character 
expressly commissioned to the office of prophetical teach- 
ing." — Vol. II., p. 321. 

I will cite here a few passages in illustration of the 
truth of this remark, and to show the strength as 
, well as the grounds of this expectation. — Mr. Myers, 
in his Introduction to the Condones Basilica, says : 

" What we desire is, a Newtonian theory of prophecy 
which shall explain them all. There is a great analogy 
between the method of proceeding when we study the 
starry heavens above us, and the course of Providence 



28 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

around us. We feel, when laws like those of gravitation 
and attraction are presented to us, that they are competent 
to the task assigned them ; and that, though very simple 
in themselves, they were not obvious to the early philoso- 
phers, and require the severest mental discipline before 
they can be appreciated in all their results. And never 
does this beauty appear more conspicuous than after 
perusing the futile contrivances and the wearisome com- 
plexity of previous expositions of the wonders of the 
universe. And why should we not look forward to some 
theological Newton, who may be permitted to throw the 
light of chastened reason on the firmament of prophecy, 
and be hailed as a divinely-sent teacher of the church in 
the mysteries of the future ? Surely one chief means of 
disciplining the mind and of preparing the way for such 
an expounder of holy things, is a strong conviction that, 
on the whole, previous expounders have failed." — p. xv. 

Mr. Pearson, in his Prophetical Character and In- 
spiration of the Apocalypse considered, observes : 

"Although, with respect to. most of these prophecies, 
we derive from those parts of them which have been al- 
ready fulfilled, strong grounds of belief that the unfulfilled 
portions of them will have their accomplishment at some 
future period ; yet, from considering the peculiar character 
of these prophecies, we may derive reasonable grounds 
for believing that God would vouchsafe some future reve- 
lation of his will, in which the indistinct parts of them 
would be more completely cleared up ; and those parts of 
them in which the details are at present necessarily imper- 
fect, would be more fully and more perfectly illustrated." 
— P. 32. 



FUR THE R RE VELA TIONS EXPECTED. 2$ 

And again, in the same work, speaking of the 
events foretold in the Apocalypse, he says : 

"But the events foretold are so important, and they are 
so intimately connected with the patient exercise of our 
faith in the promises of God, that we may reasonably look 
to some more complete development of them under so?ne sub- 
sequent dispensation of prophecy, such as that which is 
contained in the Apocalypse ; in which those parts which 
are at present involved in obscurity, will be made more 
clear. This is perfectly consistent with the general analogy 
of prophecy ... It is a general characteristic of those 
prophecies which relate to the first coming of our Saviour, 
and the bringing in of the Christian dispensation, that 
they grow more clear as they advance towards the period 
of their accomplishment. We may, therefore, reasonably 
expect, with respect to those prophecies which regard the 
more distant events of the Christian dispensation, that the 
want of distinctness, which must necessarily belong to the 
older prophecies, would be made inore clear by subsequent 
revelations ; — revelations which would be better appreciated 
and more clearly understood, when the first objects of the 
former prophecies were accomplished by the promulgation 
of the gospel, and the appearance of those great anti- 
Christian powers j of which the destruction (though until 
explained by further revelations, the subject is involved in 
considerable obscurity) constitutes so important a feature 
in ancient prophecy." — p. 38. 

The following remarkable passage is found in the 
works of Dr. Knox, a calm and contemplative writer, 
who died in the early part of the present century. 
It occurs in a letter to Miss Hannah More : — 

"Probably I shall not live to see what I am wishing 
3* 



30 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

for, but I have not the smallest doubt of its taking place, 
and that at no very distant period. Some interpreter, 
'one of a thousand/ will come forth, and throw so new 
and so bright a light both upon human nature and upon 
Scripture, and will so convincingly demonstrate that 
there is a genuine philosophy (most profound in its 
principles, most sublime in its results, yet when laid open 
so self-evident as to be irresistible), which is common 
both to human nature and Holy Scripture, and which con- 
stitutes the most exquisite harmony between them ; that 
capable minds (and such are multiplying) will yield them- 
selves to the view thus opened upon them with a fulness of 
satisfaction and a completeness of acquiescence never, as 
I believe, till then exemplified. Some pious persons have 
supposed the probability of a second Pentecost, and that 
nothing short of this could effect the promised extension 
of righteousness and peace : I own it strikes me differently. 
I believe the full establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom 
will grow out of the perfect ascendancy of good sense on 
the one hand (towards which many unprecedented move- 
ments of Providence are advancing us), and a right under- 
standing of revealed truth on the other ; which blessing, 
as I said, will, I suppose, appear the result of extraordi- 
nary penetration in the mind of the discoverer ; nothing 
very wonderful, except wonderful felicity of discernment, 
seeming to accompany it. I do not say that the discovery 
will as expeditiously run over Europe as Galileo's did in 
his Sidereus Nuntius ; but most confident am I that the 
truth will spring forth, and will be diffused, and will meet 
a reception worthy of itself and of the errand [on] which 
God has sent it from heaven to earth." — Remains, Vol. 
III., p. 218. 

Father Lambert, author of a work entitled The 



RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH. 3 1 

Predictions and Promises made to the Church, speaking 
of "the grand renovation which is promised the 
Church in the Latter Times " of the perils which 
menace religion and " the great scandals which dis- 
honor it," of some who are " vividly touched with 
the evils with which the Church is inundated," and 
who "sigh after the coming of a powerful restorer''' 
who is to be the instrument of a great and much 
needed revolution in matters pertaining to the 
Church on earth, deprecates the attitude of " certain 
rash spirits who have dared to treat as illusion and 
fanaticism this prevailing expectation ; " and he ex- 
presses with confidence his belief that, if these per- 
sons "would open their minds and hearts to the 
promise which is made," 

" They will see with humble acknowledgment that it is 
neither illusion nor blind enthusiasm, but a considerable 
part of Christian piety, to occupy our thoughts with the 
renovation of the Church; to make it the continual object 
of our prayers ; to desire with ardent aspirations the 
coming of the holy prophet who is destined to be the 
minister of a revolution so astonishing and so desirable. ' ' 
— P. *55- 

But what sort of a reception will this divinely 
appointed agent of so astonishing and desirable a 
revolution in religious matters, meet with, according 
to the belief of this author ? How will this great 
and expected reformer, when he comes, be regarded 
and treated by the large majority of professedly 
Christian people ? Father Lambert answers : 

" In order to know how this precursor will be treated, 



32 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

we have only to see how He has been treated for whom 
he came to prepare the way. If you except some small 
number of disciples, and moreover very obscure, who 
recognized Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the whole body 
of the nation rejected Him with scorn, and pronounced 
an anathema against Him as a blasphemer, a sacrilegious 
usurper of the title of the Son of God. 

"Christian nations will fall into the same scorn with 
regard to his holy prophet. Corrupted a thousand times 
more by pride, by the presumption of a false righteousness, 
by impiety, by a life of ease, by all the passions which 
agitated the synagogue, they will be far from reverencing, 
as a distinguished minister, the greatest of ministers, the 
precursor and herald of the Son of God. . . . All the rest 
[save the lowly and upright in heart] will regard him with 
horror and disdain, as an impostor, a disturber of the 
Church and State." — p. 168. 

This expectation of some divinely authorized in- 
terpreter of the Apocalypse, accords also with the 
opinion, often expressed by the early Christian 
Fathers and by devout and spiritually-minded men 
in all ages of the Church, that the same spirit which 
presided over the inspiration of the prophets, must 
preside also over their interpretation, else their true 
meaning will not be apprehended. As Origen, in 
his exposition of the seven-sealed Book, says : " It 
is true of all Scripture, that the Word who shut it 
must open it." And as another writer says : " No 
one can understand the Divine Scriptures as he 
ought, unless God shall open to him its sense and 
meaning." 

It is not without abundant authority, therefore, 



EXPE CTA TION ANS WE RED. 3 3 

that Mr. Clissold, in the preface to his Spiritual Ex- 
position of the Apocalypse, says : 

" The simple fact, then, that in some age or other of 
the Church during the Antichristian confederacy, some 
one or more individuals shall arise who will be divinely 
instructed upon the subject of prophecy ; that the teaching 
of these will be rejected by the great mass of professing 
Christians ; that it will be received by only a few whose 
principles will be held in aversion ; may be regarded as 
the undeniable teaching of Catholic tradition, whether in 
the Church of Rome or the Protestant Church." — p. xix. 

THIS EXPECTATION ANSWERED. 

Now Emanuel Swedenborg claims to have been di- 
vinely authorized to unfold for us the deep and hitherto 
unknown meaning of the Apocalypse ; and to have 
had revealed to him the true key to the spiritual 
contents of this wonderful book. Without entering 
here upon an examination of his claim, we will sim- 
ply let him state it in his own language. In the 
preface to his Apocalypse Revealed, he says : 

" Not a few have labored at the explication of the Apoca- 
lypse; but as they were unacquainted with the spiritual 
sense of the Word, they could not discern the arcana 
which it contains, since these can only be unfolded by the 
spiritual sense. Expositors have, therefore, formed various 
conjectures respecting it, in many instances applying its 
contents to the affairs of empires, and blending them at 
the same time with ecclesiastical matters. But the Apoc- 
alypse, like the rest of the Word, treats, in its spiritual' 
sense, not of earthly but of heavenly things ; that is, not 
of empires and kingdoms, but of heaven and the church." 

C 



34 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" Any person may see that the Apocalypse could not be 
explained by any one but the Lord alone, as every word 
of it contains arcana which never could be known with- 
out some special illumination and consequent revelation. 
Therefore it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my 
spirit, and to teach me. It must not, therefore, be sup- 
posed that I have given any interpretation of my own, or 
even that of any angel, but simply what has been commu- 
nicated to me from the Lord alone." — Pref., pp. iii. iv. 

Now as John was " in the spirit " when he saw 
and heard the things recorded in the Apocalypse, it 
is reasonable to suppose that no one can fully under- 
stand or rightly explain the meaning of his visions, 
unless he, too, be " in the spirit." If the Apocalypse 
relates primarily to the spiritual world, an interpreter, 
in order to a right understanding of it, should have 
the spiritual world opened to him. Swedenborg's 
claim, therefore, to have had the sight of his spirit 
opened by the Lord, is perfectly consistent with his 
claim to have been illumined in such an extraordinary 
degree as to be able to understand and explain the 
true .meaning of this book. 

THE GRAND KE Y TO ITS MYSTERIES. 

And when Swedenborg's method is carefully 
examined, it is seen to be not fanciful nor arbitrary, 
but rational and philosophical. The great but simple 
doctrine of correspondence, or the unchangeable re- 
lation between internal or spiritual principles and 
external or natural phenomena, which is the same 
as that between cause and effect, is his grand Key. 



BR WN'S DIVINE ANAL OGY. 35 

This principle or method is none other than that 
" Divine Analogy " so highly extolled and ably de- 
fended by Bishop Brown, and concerning which he 
says, " the generality of men are brought to a con- 
viction of the great service it will do religion when 
rightly and fully apprehended and duly managed." 
Of this principle or doctrine the Bishop further says : 

" This divine analogy is necessary for a more satisfactory 
answer to the arguments of infidels and heretics against 
the truly Christian faith ; and for a shorter and more easy 
method of obviating their objections : For laying open 
their sophisms and evasions ; and for warding off all the 
new invented turns and forms of subtlety whereby men 
have perplexed and entangled the doctrines of the gospel, 
and involved the mysteries of Christianity in clouds and 
darkness : In order to clear up the terms of propositions 
in which these are revealed to us, and fix them to a de- 
terminate sense and meaning : To rid the world of an 
immense voluminous mass of learned trifling upon religious 
subjects and the Holy Scriptures ; and to shorten these our 
unhappy days of infidelity and heresy, in which, as far as 
it was possible, the very elect have been deceived. 

" These are the wonders (as some have ironically wrote) 
to be performed by divine analogy, whenever it shall 
please God to raise up men of abilities for the further 
clearing and improvement of it, and for a judicious appli- 
cation of it to the particular points in controversy between 
us and the adversaries of the ancient and orthodox faith. ' ' 
— Divine Analogy, p. 161. 

And in his work on the Human Understanding t 
the same distinguished author again remarks : 

"It is now become absolutely necessary to put this 



36 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

matter into a glaring light, since the whole Socinian sys- 
tem, and all that infidelity which is the consequence of 
it, as well as some more modern systems, which are in no 
small degree built upon its general principles, turn upon 
resolving all revelation and the mysteries of Christianity 
into mere metaphor and allusion only; and upon their 
ever confounding this with the true analogy which is of 
a quite different kind ; which is founded on the very 
nature of things, and is absolutely necessary even to our 
thinking of heavenly objects, though we should never 
express our thoughts by words." — p. 142. 

Now this principle or doctrine of analogy, which 
Bishop Brown regards as so absolutely indispensable 
" to rid the world of an immense voluminous mass 
of learned trifling upon religious subjects and the 
Holy Scriptures," is none other than the doctrine of 
correspondence which Swedenborg employs as the 
key to the spiritual and true meaning of the Apoca- 
lypse and all other parts of the Divine Word, and 
which, like Bishop Brown's doctrine of analogy, " is 
founded on the very nature of things." He says : 

"The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual 
world ; not only the natural world in general, but also 
every particular part thereof. Therefore, whatever exists 
in the natural world from the spiritual, is said to be the 
correspondent of that from which it exists. It is to be 
observed that the natural world exists from the spiritual 
world precisely as an effect from its efficient cause. ' ' 

And speaking of the importance of a knowledge 
of correspondence, Swedenborg further says : 

" The most ancient people, who were celestial men, 



S WEDENB OR G'S KE Y. 37 

actually thought from correspondence, as do the angels ; 
for this reason also they conversed with the angels ; and 
for the same reason the Lord often appeared to them and 
instructed them. But that knowledge is now so entirely 
lost, that it is not known what correspondence is. 

" Without a knowledge of correspondence, no clear 
understanding can be had of the spiritual world ; of its 
influx into the natural world ; of the relation of the spir- 
itual to the natural ; of the spirit of man which is called 
the soul; of the operation of the soul upon the body; 
and of the state of man after death." — Heaven and Hell, 
,n. 87-89. 

And since there is in all parts of the Word a spir- 
itual sense, which stands related to that of the letter 
like the soul to the body; therefore the Word is 
written throughout according to the great law of 
correspondence; and only through the knowledge 
and right application of this principle or law, can 
the true spiritual meaning of the Apocalypse or any 
other portion of the Word be elicited. 

A GOOD RECOMMENDATION OF THIS KEY. 

This principle is beginning to be seen and ac- 
knowledged by some of the profoundest thinkers 
and ablest writers on theology of our times. Among 
these may be reckoned the author of that exceed- 
ingly interesting work, " The Heart of Christ." In 
his chapter on " the scope, purpose, and spirit of the 
Apocalypse," this writer adverts to the state of seer- 
ship from which this book professes to have been 
produced, and says: 
4 



38 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" The seer has opened within him a more interior con« 
sciousness, to which the scenery of a higher world is 
unrolled. That scenery he can describe, and its changes 
he can note and chronicle, while his consciousness may be 
as vivid and more so than that of the astronomer when 
looking at the stars. He sees events in their causes ; in 
those spiritual states and conditions that lie behind and 
within all material phenomena, and out of which material 
phenomena are evolved. Those states and conditions he 
sees represented by appropriate symbols." 

And in the following brief illustrations of this idea, 
Mr. Sears gives his readers a hint of Swedenborg's 
method ; and not only so, but he declares his belief 
that " his method is the only rational one for inter- 
preting a purely symbolical book." 

" To illustrate : The seer [John] beholds in vision the 
sun in sackcloth and the moon turned into blood. Does this 
foretell an eclipse of the sun and moon in the natural world? 
Nothing of the kind. It represents the divine light and love 
extinguished in human souls, and the woes and calamities 
that are sure to follow. He sees a conqueror, whose name 
is Faithful and True, riding upon a white horse with a 
sharp sword issuing from his mouth. Does this mean that 
we are to look in the natural world for a man on horse- 
back with the same appearance and name? Nothing of 
the kind. It represents plainly Divine Truth in its trium- 
phal power. He sees a city lying waste, and the temple 
in it about to be thrown down. Does this mean that some 
city answering to it in appearance is to be destroyed? 
Nothing of the kind. It means that a system of religion 
is to be overthrown whose worship has become false, and 
whose unitizing life has gone. In short, the psychological 



COMMEND A TION OF THIS KE Y. 39 

condition of the seer is such that he sees spiritual things 

REPRESENTED BY NATURAL THINGS. We shall turn his 

vision into delirious nonsense when we interpret him as 
representing natural things by natural things. 

"And yet this is precisely what a long series of inter- 
preters, ending with Professor Davidson, have been trying 
to do. Swedenborg is the only interpreter we have ever 
met with who does not flounder in this interminable 
slough. He keeps consistently on the spiritual plane, and 
though we do not pretend to understand his entire 
exegesis, we believe his method is the only rational one 
for interpreting a purely symbolical book, and that in the 
work under consideration, it unfolds some of the pro- 
foundest truths that ever searched the nature of man." — 
p. 96, 7. 



III. 

THE NEW JERUSALEM.— THE GOLDEN CLTY. 

IN view of the conflicting methods of interpreta- 
tion, and the conflicting opinions which have 
been entertained with regard to the meaning and 
purpose of the Apocalypse, one is surprised to find 
so many writers in substantial agreement with each 
other respecting the meaning of the New Jerusalem 
mentioned in the twenty-first chapter. Although 
some have held that a literal city is one day to de- 
scend to our earth from out the immeasurable depths 
of space, of the character and dimensions of the 
one therein described, yet the majority have agreed 
that the New Jerusalem is the symbol of a renovated 
and glorious state of the church ; some holding that 
it refers to the church triumphant, or in heaven, and 
others, to the church militant, or to a renovated state 
of the church on earth. The substantial agreement 
of so many commentators on this one point, can 
only be accounted for by the facts, that the evidence 
in favor of this view is exceedingly strong, and that 
any different interpretation is seen to be embarrassed 
with unsuperable difficulties. It may assist us in our 
inquiry to know what many thoughtful commenta- 
tors prior to Swedenborg, have understood by the 
New Jerusalem. 

40 



OPINIONS OF EXPOSITORS. 4 1 

HO W INTERPRETED B Y MANY EXPOS/TORS. 

Cocceius, in his interpretation of the Apocalypse, 
chap xxi., says : 

"And I, John, beheld the Holy City, the New Jerusa- 
lem, descending from God out of heaven, &c. He be- 
held the last state of the church in this world, namely, 
that it was adorned for her husband and prepared for 
his advent. I am indeed at a loss to know how this is 
not to be explained of the state of the church upon earth, 
but of the church in heaven. That which comes down 
'from heaven, comes down assuredly to the earth." — 
p. 114. 

Pyle in his, Paraphrase (Apocalypse chap, xxi., p. 
221) says : 

" Again, it was shown under the emblem of the New 
Jerusalem; not the literal, the Jewish city of that name 
rebuilt, and new adorned; but that Israel of God, that 
seed of Abraham, Jacob and Sion or Jerusalem, by which 
the prophets were accustomed to express the true church 
and worshipers of God, under Christ the Messiah ; as on 
the contrary they used the terms Egypt, Moab, Edom, 
Babylon, Gog and Magog, as terms for the adversaries 
and persecutors of the same church. As this Christian 
Church in its former corrupt state, answered to the sinful 
Jerusalem that was to be destroyed by the Chaldeans and 
Romans, so now in its reformed and pure condition it is 
styled new. As it was once Babylon the Great, now it 
appears the great and holy city, taking in the whole body 
of converted Jews and Gentiles and reformed Christians. 
And, finally, it seemed to descend from heaven, as being 
founded and perfected by the Divine Power and Provi- 
4* 



42 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

dence, and abounding in all those graces and virtues that 
are taught from heaven, and whereof God himself is the 
infinite fountain and examplar. Thus is the church to be 
adorned as a bride." 

And on the same page this author again observes 
in a note : 

" That this New Jerusalem is not intended to signify the 
future heavenly state, properly so called, but the fully 
reformed state of the Christian church here upon earth, in 
its last period; when we consider it here described as 
being not in heaven, but coming from God out of or from 
heaven, i. e. to be spiritual or heavenly," etc. 

Durham (Apoc. chap, xxi., p. 488) says : 
"Now followeth, more particularly, the change that is 
made on the church of the elect when they are gathered 
together, and the world now is new and another thing than 
it was ; so is the glorified church new and another thing 
(as to her qualities and glory) than before. After I had 
seen the new earth (saith he), I saw also the New Church, 
exceedingly beautiful, no city, no bride so adorned on her 
marriage-day as she is ; she is so glorious, when he getteth 
but a little view of her. ' ' 

Gill (Apoc. chap, xxi., p. 856) says : 

" The gospel church-state in its imperfection is called 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem above, which 
is free, and the mother of all ; and here the church in its 
perfect state is called the New Jerusalem, where will be 
complete peace and prosperity." 

Hammond (Apoc. chap, xxi., p. 1003) says : 
" The true meaning of the New Jerusalem mentioned 
here (ver. 2), and again with the addition of 'holy,' and 



"THE PURE CHRISTIAN CHURCH" 43 

the glory of God upon it (ver. 11), will be a key to the 
interpreting this chapter. That it signifies not the state 
of glorified saints in heaven, appears by its descending 
from heaven in both places. . . . And so it must needs be 
here on earth ; and being here set down, with the glory of 
God upon it, it will signify the pure Christian Church, 
joining Christian practice with the profession thereof, 
and that in a flourishing condition exprest by the new 
heaven and new earth. In this sense we have the supernal 
Jerusalem (Gal. iv. 26), the new Jerusalem (Rev. iii. 12) ; 
where to the constant professor is promised that God will 
write upon him the name of God, and the name of the 
city of God, the New Jerusalem, which there signifies the 
pure Catholic Christian Church." 

Calmet thinks the expression New Jerusalem is 
equivalent to that of New Church, although he refers 
its existence to the time of the Apostles. Thus in 
his interpretation of Apocalypse chap, xxi., v. 5, he 
says : 

" He who sat upon the throne said, ' Behold I am 
about to make all things new;' a new heaven, a new 
earth, a new Jerusalem, a new kingdom, a new spouse, a 
new Church." 

Patrick Forbes (Apoc. chap, xxi., p. 238) says : 
"The second thing seen in this general notice of the 
bride, is that for which, and in the newness of whose case, 
all this change is in the university of things. Even the 
bride herself, the true church, here described by many 
notes, Holy, a city, new; and this last, not only in com- 
parison to that old Jerusalem under the law, which begat 
children unto bondage, as did Hagar, — for so the Chris- 
tian Church hath always been and is the new Jerusalem 



44 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

mother of us all, — but also new in comparison to her own 
former state, in her sufferings and wrestlings by and with 
her great enemies, who now being fully overthrown, and 
she perfectly prepared as a bride for the wedding, the mys- 
tery of God is, in that, finished. ' ' 

VIE W OF THE LITERALISTS. 

And other commentators, Scott and Bishop Lowth 
among them, have held the opinion that the New 
Jerusalem mentioned in the Apocalypse, means a 
new and glorious state of the church on earth. But 
many writers have denied, and some still deny, that 
it is here used in any such typical sense. They be- 
lieve that this vision was prophetic, but that the 
prophecy is some day to be fulfilled according to the 
strict sense of the letter. One of the latest advocates 
of the literal fulfilment of this prophecy, and whose 
interpretation may be accepted as that of the literal- 
ists generally, says — in a work published as late as 
1867: 

"The heavenly city in the twenty-first chapter of Reve- 
lation, is a real, visible, tangible place. ... St. John 
tells us that the length, breadth, and height of the city are 
the same, and that in each of these directions its measure- 
ment is 12,000 furlongs, or about 1500 miles. But how 
is it possible that any city should be 1500 miles in height? 
This difficulty may be at once overcome by understanding 
that it is not a structure built by man, nor an ordinary 
city, but one not made with hands, whose Builder and 
Maker is God. We fully believe that the heavenly city 
will be 12,000 furlongs in height. That it will be formed 



VIEW OF THE LITERALISTS. 45 

of a succession of streets and palaces, rising one above the 
other — terrace above terrace — dome above dome — until 
it mounts up 1500 miles in height, from the lowest tier of 
buildings to the highest ; and thus its length, and breadth, 
and height will be alike ; in every direction it will extend 
12,000 furlongs, while around the lower circumference of 
the city there will be seen a wall of jasper, 144 cubits in 
height, giving it the aspect of an impregnable fortress ; 
and the whole of this magnificent structure will be lit up 
by the glory of God, pervading and illuminating every 
mansion and every successive terrace, both within and 
around — for the Lord God doth lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof. And thus, like a building lit up by a 
lamp suspended in its centre, every part of the city will 
receive equal or sufficient light, without being darkened or 
overshadowed by the intervention of any neighboring struc- 
ture. Rev. xxi. 

"It is by these wonderful dimensions that the city of 
God will be distinguished from every other place, posses- 
sing a quality which can never be found in any earthly city 
— that of being self-sustained and separated from all con- 
tact with the earth, and independent of the ordinary light 
of the sun or of the moon ; and extending equally in all 
directions, so as to appear to the inhabitants of the lower 
world as one vast pile of magnificence and glory; and 
within it will be placed the throne of Christ, as King of 
kings, and supreme Monarch of the earth ; and around 
his throne, and throughout all the successive stages of this 
divine structure, will be seen the palaces and pavilions of 
the glorified saints, enriched with all those inexpressible 
splendors described in the visions of St. John — the streets 
of transparent gold, and the gates of pearl, and lit up with 
that pure and immortal light which flows directly from the 
original fountain of all light. 



46 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

"It Is therefore with admirable wisdom that God has 
decreed to try the world once again under a dispensation 
of visible glory — something which all may see, and which 
no infidel can deny. And for this purpose he will bring 
down the New Jerusalem in all its perfection, and suspend 
it over the earth, filled with glorified inhabitants; and 
being the capital city of the King of kings, from whence 
he shall issue his commands and send forth his messengers 
to all quarters of the world — and thus a new dispensa- 
tion of visible reality will commence." — Co77iing Wonders 
(Expected between 1867 and 1875), P- 4 I 5 - 4 I 7- 

Even the learned Dr. Stuart, when commenting on 
Rev. xxi. 2, does not intimate that the New Jerusa- 
lem there mentioned denotes a new church, or any- 
thing spiritual belonging to the church. From his 
exposition one would certainly infer that he expected 
the prophecy to be literally fulfilled — although he 
thinks the city that is to come down, will be made 
of new material, quite different from any now known. 
He says : 

"All glorious is the city, too, for such must be whatever 
comes from God out of heaven. Splendid is its attire, i. e. 
its construction and materials, for it is like the splendid 
dress of a bride adorned for her husband. . . . The Para- 
dise in which pious souls had hitherto been, was a place 
of happiness fitted for them when separated fro?n their 
respective bodies. But now a new state of being com- 
mences. It is not altogether and merely spiritual, for the 
body [material, of course] is again united with the soul ; it 
is not [altogether] a material state, for the body by its 
resurrection has become a spiritual body. This new state 
of being demands, of course, a new world for its appro- 



DR. STUARTS VIEW OF IT. tf 

priate development." And "a new world is provided; 
not from the ruins of the old material heavens and earth 
vamped up anew, but a new Jerusalem from God out of 
heaven." 

And in his commentary on verse 9, this writer 
speaks of John being " led by the angel-interpreter 
to contemplate the glories of it [i. e. the New- 
Jerusalem], after it has obtained a fixed position" 
And in commenting on verses 10 and 11, he says: 
" It is not necessary that we should regard the new 
Jerusalem as in all respects corresponding in its lo- 
calities to the old!' And that, " in the mind of the 
seer it was regarded as containing mansions, all of 
which were of one height [375 miles, he says], and 
which from the loftiness of this height, were fitted to 
hold almost countless myriads of inhabitants. The 
question as to convenience or inconvenience of 
dwelling at such a height from the streets and the 
river, of course is not to be taken into consideration," 
because the dwellers in this city will all have " spir- 
itual bodies." And " because there is no night tliere, 
there will be no need of shutting the gates to guard 
against surprise!' 

And throughout the entire chapter, this learned 
commentator does not rise above the lowest and 
most sensuous view of the New Jerusalem. Yet 
when he comes to the dimensions of the city, and 
finds its height, as well as its length and breadth, to 
be 12,000 furlongs, he seems to shrink from accepting 
this for literal verity, and with strange inconsistency 
remarks : " We are relieved from any painful doubts 



48 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

here, by calling to mind that all is symbol" " Every- 
thing shows that all literal exegesis in such a case as 
the present, ... is entirely out of question." (!) But 
what the symbol means — what instruction was in- 
tended to be shadowed forth under it, the learned 
Doctor does not pretend to tell us. 



IV. 

SWEDENBORG ON THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

WE have seen what the state of Apocalyptic 
interpretation has been, according to the con- 
fession of distinguished commentators. We have 
seen that the uncertainty, confusion and contradiction 
which have hitherto prevailed, in respect to both the 
meaning and purpose of the Apocalypse, and the 
method to be employed in its interpretation, have 
been so great as to prove the need of some divinely 
authorized and illumined interpreter to unlock its 
hidden mysteries, or furnish us with the key. 

And not only has the need of some heaven-sent 
interpreter been seen and felt, but many devout 
minds have believed that such an interpreter would 
some day arise. We have further seen that Sweden- 
borg's claim is in strict accord with the deep-felt 
need and prophetic intimations of these believing 
minds ; and that one of the profoundest theologians 
of modern times — so acknowledged by Christians of 
almost every name — frankly confesses that " Swe- 
denborg is the only interpreter we have ever met 
with who does not flounder in this interminable 
slough [of naturalism] : " And he expresses the be- 
lief that " his method is the only rational one for 
5 D 49 



50 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

interpreting a purely symbolical book ; " and that, 
when applied to the interpretation of the Apocalypse, 
" it unfolds some of the profoundest truths that ever 
searched the nature of man." 



HIS EXPLANATION OF THE SYMBOL. 

What, now, is Swedenborg's explanation of the 
Apocalyptic New Jerusalem ? We give the answer 
in his own words : 

"'And I, John, saw the holy city New Jerusalem, 
coming down from God out of heaven,' signifies a new 
church to be established by the Lord at the end of the 
former church, which will be associated with the new 
heaven in divine truths as to doctrine and as to life. 

" The reason John here names himself, saying, I, John, 
is, that by him as an apostle is signified the good of love 
to the Lord, and consequently the good of life ; for which 
reason he was loved more than the other apostles, and at 
supper reclined on the bosom of the Lord, John xiii. 23 ; 
xxi. 20 ; and in like manner this church which is now 
treated of. That Jerusalem signifies the church, will be 
seen in the next article. It is called a city and described 
as a city from doctrine and a life according to it, for city 
in the spiritual sense signifies doctrine. It is called holy 
from the Lord who alone is holy, and from the divine 
truths which are in it derived from the Word from the 
Lord, which are called holy. And it is called new, be- 
cause He who sat upon the throne said : ' Behold I make 
all things new,' ver. 5. And it is said to come down from 
God out of heaven, because it descends from the Lord 
through the new Christian heaven treated of in the first 



THE SYMBOL EXPLAINED. 5 1 

verse of this chapter ; for the church upon earth is formed 
through .heaven by the Lord, that they may act as one and 
be associated. 

" That Jerusalem signifies the church as to doctrine and 
consequently worship, appears from many passages in the 
Word, as from the following in Isaiah : ' For Zion's sake 
will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will 
not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as bright- 
ness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 
Then the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings 
thy glory ; and thou shalt be called by a new name which 
'the mouth of Jehovah shall utter; and thou shalt be a 
crown of Glory in the hand of thy God. Jehovah shall 
be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married. 
Behold, thy salvation cometh ; behold, his reward is with 
him. And they shall call them the holy people, the re- 
deemed of Jehovah ; and thou shalt be called the City 
sought for, not deserted.' — lxii. 1-4, n, 12. This whole 
chapter treats of the Lord's advent and of the New Church 
to be established by Him. It is this New Church which 
is meant by Jerusalem which shall be called by a new name 
which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter, and which shall 
be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal 
diadem in the hand of God, in which Jehovah shall be 
well pleased, and which shall be called a City sought for, 
'and not forsaken. These words cannot apply to that Je- 
rusalem which, when the Lord came into the world, was 
inhabited by the Jews ; for that was the very opposite in 
every particular, and might more properly have been called 
Sodom, as it also is called in Apoc. xi. 8 ; Isa. iii. 9 ; 
Jer. xxiii. 14; Ezek. xvi. 46, 48. So in another part of 
Isaiah : ' For behold, I create a new heaven and a new 
earth : the former shall not be remembered : rejoice and 



52 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

be glad forever in that which I create. For behold, I am 
about to create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy; 
that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and joy over my people. 
Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together: they 
shall do no evil in all the mountain of my holiness. ' — 
lxv. 17-25." 

Such is Swedenborg's explanation of the New 
Jerusalem. Let us examine it, and see if it be rea- 
sonable and consistent. 

We should bear in mind that everything which 
John saw that is recorded in the Apocalypse, he saw 
in vision, or when he was " in the spirit." The things 
he saw, therefore, were seen in a realm above nature; 
and not with his natural but with his spiritual eyes. 
And like all pictorial representations sketched by 
the hand of the Divine Master, they are full of divine 
significance. And that some special and extraordi- 
nary illumination should be vouchsafed, to enable 
one to read their deep significance, is not at all un- 
reasonable. It is precisely what we should expect. 
And since the Lord's words are declared to be 
" spirit and life," we must believe there is a spiritual 
meaning to all the pictures He displays before the 
interior vision of his chosen prophets. And if so, 
there ought to be some fixed and unalterable law, 
which, when revealed, will enable us to read their 
meaning. 

In the first verse of the twenty-first chapter of the 
Apocalypse, John tells us that he had a vision of "a 
new heaven and a new earth." The meaning of this 
in general, seems plain enough. It was a prophetic 



WHY THE CITY JERUSALEM. 53 

intimation of a new and better order of things to be 
3ome day established in both realms, the spiritual 
and natural. And straightway an angel came and 
talked with him, " saying, Come hither ; I will show 
thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." Thereupon the 
angel, he continues, " carried me away in the spirit 
to a great and high mountain, and showed me that 
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God, having the glory of God." The 
seer was lifted by divine influence into a superior 
spiritual condition, which is what the being taken to 
the summit of a high mountain corresponds to ; and 
in this exalted state, he sees, pictorially represented, 
the Church of the Future — its doctrines, its spirit, its 
principles, its life. It was represented with respect 
to its doctrine, as a city ; for a city corresponds to a 
church as to its doctrine. 



WHY THAT PARTICULAR CITY? 

And can we see any reason why that particular 
city, Jerusalem, rather than any other, should have 
appeared to John on that occasion ? I think we can. 
For, consider how Jerusalem was looked upon by the 
Jews. To them it was the holy city — yea, the city 
of the living God. It was identified in their minds 
with all that they held most sacred — with their 
religion, their worship, their church. Their temple 
and altar were there. Those living outside of the 
city, went there several times in a year with their 
tithes and offerings. There they held their great 
5* 



54 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

religious festivals ; and with music, song and dance, 
gave expression to their strongest national as well 
as their deepest religious feelings. It was to them 
the place of worship. They never imagined that God 
could be truly or acceptably worshiped elsewhere. 
Therefore they called it "the city of God," — "the 
holy city " — " the holiest dwelling-place of the Most 
High." In the minds of devout Jews, Jerusalem 
was associated with everything belonging to their 
religion and worship ; somewhat (though much more 
intimately) as Rome at the present day is associated 
in the minds of pious Catholics with their religion ; 
or as Babylon is associated in the minds of Pro- 
testant Christians with Roman Catholicism. 

If the Church of the Future, then, as to its doc- 
trine and worship, were to have been pictorially 
represented as a city eighteen hundred years ago, 
what city but Jerusalem should we expect would 
have been chosen? But it was not the old Jerusalem 
that John saw ; for it was not the old but a new 
system of religious doctrine which was thereby 
represented. Therefore the city that he beheld was 
called the new Jerusalem. And because the doctrines 
of the church hereby typified, were to be no cunning 
device of man's wit or wisdom, but doctrines re- 
vealed from heaven by the Lord himself; because 
they were to be doctrines disclosed or brought down 
to man's rational understanding from out that high 
and heavenly meaning of the Divine Word which 
the angels perceive, therefore the New Jerusalem was 
seen " coming dozvn from God out of heaven." 



THE BRIDE, THE LAMES WIFE. 55 

Whoever reads attentively the whole of this 
twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse, will see 
clearly that the new Jerusalem here mentioned was 
intended to be the type or representative of a grand 
spiritual city — the city of the living God — to be 
established and built up in human hearts and human 
society, but of materials which come down from God 
out of heaven. In other words, he will see that a 
new and glorious church on earth, and one that will 
be in sweet accord with the heaven of angels ; — a 
grand army of human souls flooded with new light 
and pulsating with new life from the Lord ; — a 
church based not on the vain imaginings of men, 
but on the precious and everlasting truths of God's 
Word; — a church inspired by the purity, reflecting 
the glory, filled with the light and liberty and love 
of God — is clearly what was symbolized and fore- 
shadowed by the city that John beheld in vision. 
Or, to quote the words of Swedenborg, " a new 
church to be established by the Lord at the end of 
the former church, which will be associated with the 
new heaven in divine truths as to doctrine and as to 
life." 

For, consider what is said of this city — what it 
is called and how it is described. It is called 



"THE BRIDE, THE LAMB'S WIFE." 

I have already alluded to the significant fact that 
the new Jerusalem was seen coming down from God 
out of heaven. What are the constituents of every 



56 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

regenerate soul — of every true church whether in 
the larger or smaller form ? Obviously, the truths 
of wisdom and the goods of love; heavenly thoughts 
or laws in the head, and heavenly dispositions and 
purposes in the heart. These are the essential things 
of every true church, as they are of every true man. 
And every one knows (or may know if he reflects) 
that these come down from God out of heaven; and 
that they cannot come from elsewhere. What is 
said, therefore, of this city's descent from God, ac- 
cords perfectly with the idea that a new Church on 
earth is what was symbolized and foreshadowed 
by it. 

But the angel that led John to the great and high 
mountain, and showed him the city, called it " the 
bride, the Lamb's wife." How plain is it from this 
designation, that a true and genuine church is what 
that city was intended to represent ! or true and 
heavenly doctrine written upon the hearts and in- 
corporated into the lives of men ! " The Lamb's 
wife" evidently means the Lord's true church; — all 
souls who become united to Him through willing 
and affectionate obedience to his precepts. Natural 
marriage corresponds to spiritual marriage. And 
spiritual marriage is the union of true and loving 
souls, with the Lord. Such souls, loving Him su- 
premely, and seeking above all else to know «and do 
his will, hold a relation to Him which corresponds 
to the relation of a wife to her husband. They are 
internally and spiritually united to Him. Therefore, 
in the symbolic language of Scripture, they are 
called his bride or wife : and He is called their hus- 



THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE. $? 

band. Accordingly He says to Zion in her re- 
deemed and comforted state: "For thy Maker is thy 
husband; the Lord of hosts is his name." "And 
as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall 
thy God rejoice over thee." — Isa. liv. 5, lxii. 5. And 
again in Jeremiah : " My covenant they brake, al- 
though I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord." 
So in view of that purified state of the church which 
the angels beheld in the distant future — that multi- 
tude of souls which would be prepared to receive 
love and wisdom from the Lord, and thereby to be- 
come closely wedded to Him, John says he " heard 
as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the 
voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and 
give honor to Him ; for the marriage of the Lamb 
is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And 
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in 
fine linen, clean and white ; for the fine linen is the 
righteousness of saints." — Rev. xix. 6-3. If the 
righteousness of saints is the fine linen in which 
the Lamb's wife is arrayed, then the saints — the 
righteous — the genuine disciples of the Lord — his 
true church must be that wife. 

The circumstance, therefore, of the angel's calling 
the city (t New Jerusalem the bride, the Lamb's 
wife," is conclusive of the fact that it typified and 
foreshadowed a new state of the church on earth ; — 
a state when human hearts would enter into a more 
intimate and blissful marriage union with the Lord 
than ever before. 



5 « THE GOLDEN CITY. 

11 HAVING THE GLORY OF GOD." 

This, also, is predicated of the New Jerusalem, and 
forms another link in the chain of argument in sup- 
port of Swedenborg's exegesis. For consider: — 

What is the true glory of a man? Not his 
physical strength nor personal comeliness ; not his 
great worldly possessions, nor his exalted social or 
official position ; not his vast stores of knowledge even, 
for these may be used merely for his own aggrandize- 
ment. But a capacious mind richly stored with the 
treasures of knowledge, and a heart emptied of self- 
ishness and filled and animated with disinterested 
love — this is a man's true greatness and glory. In 
a word, it is intense and unselfish love guided in its 
activities by the highest wisdom. And if such be 
the true glory of a man, then must wisdom and love 
constitute the chief glory of God; or the matchless 
wisdom of his Word which is an emanation from 
his love, and given for the enlightenment, exaltation 
and blessedness of mankind. Human souls, then — 
or a church filled with the light and warmth of 
heaven, or illumined by the wisdom and inspired 
by the love with which the spiritual sense of God's 
Word is all aglow — may be truly said to have the 
glory of God. To quote Swedenborg's explanation 
of this passage : 

"By these words is described the understanding of the 
Word with those who are in the doctrine of the New Jeru- 
salem, and in a life according to it [i. e., a life of unself- 
ish love] ; with such the Word shines, as it were, when it 



MEASURED WITH A GOLDEN REED. 59 

is read ; it shines from the Lord by means of the spiritual 
sense, because the Lord is the Word, and the spiritual 
sense is in the light of heaven which proceeds from Him 
as a sun; and the light which proceeds from him as a 
sun, in its essence is the divine truth of his divine wis- 
dom" — that is, the truth emanating from love. "By 
the glory of God is meant the Word in its divine light." 
And agreeably to this it is immediately added, that 
the light of this city " was like unto a stone most 
precious, even like a jasper stone clear as crystal/' 
And a jasper stone corresponds to and therefore 
signifies " the divine truth of the Word in its literal 
sense translucent from the divine truth in the spiritual 
sense." Such is the glory of God — a truly divine 
glory — with which the church symbolized by the 
New Jerusalem is to be lighted. 

MEASURED WITH A GOLDEN REED. 

John further tells us that the angel who showed 
him the New Jerusalem " had a golden reed to meas- 
ure the city, and the gates thereof and the wall 
thereof." If a new Church is typified by this city, a 
golden reed must be the symbol of something whereby 
this Church may be measured. And what is that ? 
How or with what do we measure human beings ? 
Not with a yard-stick or tape-line or any other 
material standard of measurement — for the real man 
is not material. We measure men not by taking 
the size of their bodies, but the size of their souls. 
We measure them by the character and intensity of 
their love. They are great or small in the heavenly 



60 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

sense, according as they are wise and good, or ac- 
cording to the strength and disinterestedness of their 
love. Pure love, therefore, — love like God's own — 
is the standard of measurement to be used when 
human souls are to be measured ; and this love is 
what gold corresponds to. A golden reed, therefore, 
typifies the ability derived from the good of this 
heavenly love, to measure or estimate the character 
of an individual, a community or church. What 
higher or truer standard than unselfish love can be 
conceived of, whereby to measure beings created to 
be images and likenesses of Him who is Love itself? 
Or by what other standard of measurement shall we 
judge the doctrines of any church? A doctrine is 
true or false, according to its degree of conformity 
with this standard ; that is, according as its tendency 
is to develope and strengthen this love, or the re- 
verse. This, then, is the true and heavenly test to 
be applied to every church and to all its doctrines 
and inculcations. 

And this agrees with what we find in a subsequent 
verse, where mention is made of the wall of the city, 
whose measure is said to be " according to the meas- 
ure of a man, that is, of the angel." The wall en- 
compasses the city; and its extent, therefore, shows 
the size of the city. And the wall of the New Jeru- 
salem is said to be " according to the measure of a 
man, that is, of the angel." Pure unselfish love is 
the distinguishing characteristic of every inhabitant 
of the celestial realms. The angels are all of them 
forms of love, Love of the Lord and the neighbor 



THE CITY WAS PURE GOLD. 6 1 

is their ruling principle of action. And as every true 
and thoroughly regenerate man is an angel, viewed 
as to his immortal part, therefore the measure of a 
true man is the same as the measure of an angel ; 
and the measure, that is, the character or quality of 
these, is the same as that of a true church. And 
what is a true church (signified by the New Jerusa- 
lem), but the Lord's kingdom in the heavens brought 
down to earth? — what but human beings in whom 
the essential characteristics of angels are developed 
and perfected? The measure of each, therefore, 
should be identical — as was revealed to John. 

AND THE CITY WAS PURE GOLD. 

It is further said — and in strict harmony, we ob- 
serve, with all that has gone before — that "the city 
was pure gold like unto clear glass." Surely, a 
literal city of " pure gold " would not be a very de- 
sirable place of residence. But gold, being the most 
precious and valuable of minerals, ought to typify 
something precious in the mind or heart of man. It 
ought to represent the noblest and most valuable 
element in human character — the essential con- 
stituent of heaven and the church. And what is 
that ? Not faith, as the old theologies have taught, 
but love. Love is the crowning attribute of Deity. 
As the apostle truly says, " God is love." And the 
more unselfish men become — -the more thoroughly 
imbued and dominated by the disinterested love of 
others, and of all that is just, sincere, true and good 
6 



62 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

for its own sake, — the more they become like God. 
Accordingly the same apostle again says : " And he 
that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in 
him." 

Now since pure gold corresponds to the good of 
unselfish love, and this love is the essential thing in 
the church typified and foreshadowed by the New 
Jerusalem — as it is, indeed, the essential thing in 
the kingdom of heaven — as this is the very sub- 
stance and marrow of all its teachings and the end 
to which all its doctrines point, therefore this city 
was shown to John as of "pure gold." Swedenborg 
says : 

"All the particulars of the doctrine of the New Jeru- 
salem relate to love to the Lord and love towards the 
neighbor. Love to the Lord consists in trusting in the 
Lord and doing his commandments ; and to do his com- 
mandments constitutes love towards the neighbor, because 
to do his commandments is to be useful to our neighbor. 
That they love the Lord who do his commandments, the 
Lord himself teaches in John xiv. 21-24; an d that love 
to God and love to the neighbor are the two command- 
ments upon which hang ajl the law and ' the prophets, see 
Matthew xxii. 35-40. -The law and the prophets mean 
the Word in its whole complex." (903.) 

Genuine love — the disinterested love of use — 
is what pure gold corresponds to ; and clear glass is 
the correspondent or symbol of the transparent truth 
of the spiritual sense of the Word. Since love, 
therefore — love to the Lord and the neighbor — ■ 
love enlightened and guided by heavenly or rational 



CUBICAL FORM OF THE CITY. 63 

truth, is to form the animating principle, yea, the 
very life and soul of that church signified by the 
New Jerusalem — since this principle is to pervade 
all its doctrines, inspire all its activities, shape all its 
ends, determine all its doings — therefore the city is 
described as " pure gold like unto clear glass." 
Consider also 

THE CUBICAL FORM OF THE CITY. 

It is said that " the city lieth four square, and its 
length is as large as its breadth. And he measured 
the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. 
The length and the breadth and the height of it are 
equal." Every one can see from this that no natural 
city is here referred to. Think of a city of such 
dimensions coming down, ready built, out of the 
sky ! A city with its buildings and walls fifteen hun- 
dred miles high, must, indeed, have a very wonderful 
and original style of architecture. 

But the form and dimensions of the city are sym- 
bolic, like everything else predicated of it. The 
quadrangle or square is the type of strict and im- 
partial justice, which is to be another distinguishing 
characteristic of the church signified by the New 
Jerusalem, — justice towards all men and in all the 
various relations of life. And to represent its 
catholicity and universality, the city is further de- 
scribed as cubical ; for " the length and the breadth 
and the height of it are equal " — a type of the fact, 
that this church will embrace all kinds and degrees 



64 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

of good and truth, from the lowest natural or scien- 
tific to the highest spiritual and celestial. It will re- 
cognize the connection and oneness, yea, the divine- 
ness, of all kinds of truth, and show science to be, 
not the adversary but the sincere and helpful friend of 
religion ; and that God's Word and works are never 
in conflict, but in complete and cordial agreement. 

ITS FO UNDA TIONS, WALLS AND GA TES. 

The foundations and walls of the city are described 
as of " precious stones." Stones are the symbols of 
those low but solid and unyielding forms of truth 
which are found in the literal sense of the Word. 
On these the church signified by the New Jerusalem, 
rests as a city upon its foundations ; for all the doc- 
trines of this church are drawn from and confirmed 
by the truths of the literal sense. These, too, are 
its protection — its walls as well as its foundations. 

" Since the holy city, New Jerusalem," says Sweden- 
borg, " means the Lord's New Church as to doctrine, its 
wall means nothing else but the Word in its literal sense, 
from which doctrine is derived ; for that sense defends the 
spiritual which lies concealed within it, as a wall defends 
a city and its inhabitants; and that the literal sense is the 
foundation, containant and support of the spiritual sense, 
may be seen in the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scrip- 
ture, n. 27-36 ; and that this sense is a guard to prevent 
the interior divine truths of the spiritual sense from being 
injured, see n. 97 of the same treatise; also that the doc- 
trine of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense 
of the Word, and confirmed by it, n. 50-61." 



ITS WALLS AND GATES. '65 

The stones with which the foundations of the wall 
of the city were garnished, are said to be all precious, 
because the truths of the Word which they typify 
are full of the Lord's own spirit and life ; and this it 
is which makes them precious. 

And the twelve gates of the city are the symbols 
of all those knowledges of good and truth through 
which we are introduced into the church, or into a 
true church state, as people may be introduced into 
a natural city through gates. And it is said that 
"every particular gate was of one pearl," because 
there is one precious kind of knowledge which, in 
spiritual things, pervades all others and conjoins 
them into one ; and that is the knowledge and ac- 
knowledgment of the Lord. 

"The reason," says Swedenborg, "why the acknowl- 
edgment and knowledge of the Lord conjoins into one all 
the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, is, that 
there is a connection of all spiritual truths ; and, if you 
will believe it, their connection is like the connection of 
all the members, viscera and organs of the body. As the 
soul, therefore, contains all these in their order and con- 
nection, so that they are felt no otherwise than as one, so 
in like manner the Lord contains or holds together all 
spiritual truths in man. That the Lord is the very gate 
through which men are to enter into the church and thence 
into heaven, He himself teaches in John : 'lam the door ; 
by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,' x. 9 ; and 
that the knowledge and acknowledgment of Him is the 
pearl of great price, is meant by his own words in Mat- 
thew : ' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman 
seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl 
6* E 



66 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought 
it,' xii. 45, 46. The one pearl of great price is the 
knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord." (A. R. 

916.) 

ITS TEMPLE. 

The argument in favor of such a spiritual inter- 
pretation of the New Jerusalem as Swedenborg has 
given, is cumulative, and gains strength with every 
step we take in the examination of what is said of it. 
In the 22d verse of this chapter, the seer says : 
"And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it," — a 
declaration that ought to be conclusive of the fact, 
that no natural or material but a living and spiritual 
city is here referred to ; — a vast multitude of regen- 
erate souls, or of enlightened and sincere worshipers 
of the Lord Jesus Christ ; for it is only of such kind 
of city that He is the temple. 

A temple, being a place for external and formal 
worship, corresponds to a state of internal and real 
worship. This, therefore, is what it typifies and de- 
notes. And in every state of true worship, the Lord 
himself is the All-in-all ; for all the thoughts, desires 
and feelings whereby He is truly worshiped, are 
from Him. Therefore a temple, or place of worship, 
becomes the representative of the Lord himself. 
He is the living Temple. And men, too, become 
living temples so far as their hearts come to be the 
abode of his blessed Spirit. Hence the apostle says 
to the Corinthian brethren : " Know ye not that ye 
are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God 



THE LIGHT OF THE CITY. 6j 

dwelleth in you?" And again: "The temple of 
God is holy, which temple ye are," (i Cor. iii. 16.) 
Now the Lord in his Divine Humanity, or the Lord 
Jesus Christ, in whom, as Paul assures us, "dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," is the supreme 
and only Object of worship in the church signified 
by the New Jerusalem. He and He alone, there- 
fore, is the true and living Temple here. Agreeably 
to this, Swedenborg says : 

" ' I saw no temple therein,' does not mean that in the 
New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will be 
no temples ; but that there will be in it no external sepa- 
rate from what is internal [i. e., no external and formal 
separate from internal and spiritual worship]. The reason 
is, that a temple signifies the church as to worship ; and in 
its highest sense, it signifies the Lord himself as to his 
Divine Humanity, who is the Object to be worshiped. 
And since the all of the church is from the Lord, there- 
fore it is said, ' for its temple is the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb,' by which is meant the Lord in his Divine 
Humanity. The Lord God Almighty means the Lord 
from eternity who is Jehovah himself; and the Lamb 
means his Divine Humanity." — A. R. 918. 

THE LIGHT OF THE CITY. 

Look, again, at the manner in which the seer tells 
us this city was lighted. Not by any artificial means, 
nor by the luminaries of the natural world. " The 
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to 
shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof." This statement is 
seen to be in complete harmony with Swedenborg's 



68 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

explanation of the meaning of this city, and forms 
another strong link in our chain of argument. Not 
only does it corroborate what has thus far been said, 
but places the spiritual signification of the New Jeru- 
salem, one would think, beyond the possibility of 
doubt. 

For, consider : There is but one who can say, " I 
am the light of the world." And He is the same 
who is declared to be " the Truth." He is " the 
Word," which, though coeval and identical with 
God, "became flesh and dwelt among men." The 
Lord Jesus Christ — He is "the true light which 
enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." 
And what is the glory of God but the glad refulgence 
of the Divine Love — the light of spiritual truth 
which shines forth from the ever-living Word, whose 
glory is especially revealed in its internal sense. 
This is the light of the spiritual world. This is the 
light by which the angels see. It is this which 
illumines all minds on earth as well as in heaven. 
Truth proceeding from the Lord in his Divine Hu- 
manity; — truth unfolded from the eternal Word, 
and enlightening the minds of men; — truth pene- 
trating the dark corners of the earth and illumining 
the nations; — truth chasing away the shadows of 
ignorance and superstition and doubt and fear, show- 
ing mankind the heavenly paths, and guiding them 
upward to the celestial summits — this is " the glory 
of God." And this it is which is to lighten the 
church signified by the New Jerusalem. " For the 
glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
light thereof." And because salvation comes from 



NO NIGHT THERE. 69 

walking in the light of truth, that is, from living as, 
the truth requires, therefore it is immediately added : 
" And the nations of them that are saved shall walk 
in the light of it." 

In strict accord with this is the prediction of the 
prophet Isaiah concerning the future state of the 
church : " And they shall call thee, the city of the 
Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ... I 
will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many 
generations. . . . Thou shalt know that I the Lord 
am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One 
of Jacob. . . . Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation 
and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy 
light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon 
give light unto thee ; for the Lord shall be thine 
everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. . . . Thy 
people also shall be all righteous." 

NO NIGHT THERE. 

In harmony with our theory, and with the expla- 
nation of the symbols thus far given, is the following 
which occurs in the last chapter of the Revelation, 
and is said of the New Jerusalem : " And there shall 
be no night there ; and they need no lamp, neither 
light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them 
light." Let the principle or law of correspondence 
again be applied here, and note the meaning which 
is thereby elicited. 

There are natural day and night, and spiritual day 
and night ; day and night in the natural or sensuous 
realm, and day and night in the soul; and they cor- 



70 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

respond one to the other. When the earth's face is 
turned towards the sun, it is day-time in the world ; 
and when the human heart (man's spiritual face) is 
turned towards the Lord, it is day-time in the soul. 
But when the earth is turned away from the sun, it 
is night in the* world; and when the heart is turned 
away from the Lord, it is night in the soul. The 
correspondence here is exact and perfect. Truth 
and love are the spiritual correspondents of light and 
warmth ; and in heaven they are sensibly perceived 
as light and warmth. And these emanate from the 
Lord as natural light and heat emanate from the 
sun; for He, indeed, is the sun of the spiritual world. 
When these are absent from the minds and hearts 
of men, or when the church on earth, under the 
blinding influence of the loves of self and the world, 
invents, and confirms itself in, various falsities which 
shut out the sunshine of heaven and obscure the 
glory of the Lord, then it is night with the church. 
It is precisely such a night as this — a state of utter 
spiritual darkness — that the prophet Micah refers 
to, where, speaking of the teachers who cause God's 
people to err, he says: 

"Therefore night shall be unto you, and ye shall 
not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that 
ye shall not divine ; and the sun shall go down over 
the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them." 
(iii. 6.) 

It is to such a night — such spiritual darkness in- 
duced by false persuasions originating in evil loves 
— that the Lord refers when He speaks of that 



THE Y NEED NO LAMP. 7 1 

"outer darkness" into which the wicked are cast; 
also when He says : " If, therefore, the light that is 
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! " 
But in the minds of those who acknowledge the 
Lord and humbly seek to do his will, there is no 
such darkness ; " no night there." Therefore it is 
said there shall be no night in the New Jerusalem. 
There cannot be, since its light is the same as that 
by which the angels see — the light of truth pro- 
ceeding from the warmth of love — the light of the 
spiritual sense of the Word — a light " like unto a 
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone clear as 
crystal." 

They who are in this light have no need of human 
creeds — no need of dogmas or "plans " or " schemes " 
of men's contriving — no need of the dim, sickly, 
flickering light of self-derived intelligence ; which is 
what a candle or lamp corresponds to. Nor do they 
need the more glaring but not less false and seduc- 
tive light which springs from the selfish love of 
glory, and is what is here meant by the "light of the 
sun." The sun in a good sense corresponds to the 
Lord ; and its light corresponds to the truth which 
proceeds from Him. But this, like other words, is 
sometimes used in Scripture in an opposite sense, 
and denotes the love of self, the nature of which is 
quite the opposite of the Lord's love. When used 
in this sense, the sun's light signifies the glory of 
the love of self ; for this is what its light then cor- 
responds to. Animated by the fire of self-love, men 
may sometimes ascend temporarily into the light of 



7 2 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

exalted wisdom. They may see many truths, and 
teach them from a selfish love of glory. The light 
into which such persons elevate themselves, is not 
the genuine light of the Sun of heaven, but the false 
and seductive light which originates in pride or the 
selfish love of fame. 

But all the dwellers in the New Jerusalem are in 
the love of use, not the love of self. They find 
their chief delight in the performance of uses from 
love to the Lord and the neighbor. And their love 
of use becoming strengthened by exercise, opens 
their minds more and more to the understanding 
and reception of spiritual truth — the very light by 
which the angels see. It is plain enough, therefore, 
why it is said, " there shall be no night there." And 
because they do not regard their wisdom as their 
own or self-derived, and are not ambitious of the 
glory of discovering truth, but humbly look to the 
Lord in the revelations He has been pleased to 
make, and reverently acknowledge Him in the truth 
they understand not less than in the love they feel, 
therefore it is added: "and they need no lamp, neither 
light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light." 

THE SO VEREIGNTY OF ITS DENIZENS. 

It is further said of the dwellers in this city, that 
"they shall reign forever and ever." To reign is 
predicated of those who hold the supreme power, or 
who exercise sovereign authority. But there is a 
natural and a spiritual sovereignty corresponding 



SOVEREIGNTY OF ITS DENIZENS. 73 

like body and soul. In the New Jerusalem all are to 
be crowned kings and queens ; all are to sit upon 
thrones ; for all are to reign spiritually. But to reign 
in this sense is not to exercise sovereignty over any 
outward or natural kingdom, but over that empire 
within which is each one's own by divine right — 
over the empire of the soul. Rightly to rule here — 
wisely to regulate and control all the passions, appe- 
tites, desires and feelings, and to thoroughly subject 
the inclinations of the natural man to the laws of the 
heavenly life — this is to reign in the highest, truest 
arfd best sense. This is to be spiritually crowned, 
and to reign with Him who is King of kings and 
Lord of lords. And in the sight of angels this is 
far nobler than to sit upon any terrestrial throne. 
Those who thus reign over the empire within, will 
never desire to lord it over others, but only to do 
good and serve from neighborly love. They will 
seek to govern their feelings and conduct according 
to the laws of heavenly charity. This is what the 
angels do. Therefore they are said to sit upon 
thrones and to reign. And because the members of 
the church signified by the New Jerusalem will all 
be internally associated with the angels and forever 
conjoined to the Lord, therefore it is said that " they 
shall reign forever and ever." 

THE TITLE TO CITIZENSHIP. 

Do we need further evidence to prove the correct- 
ness of Swedenborg's explanation of the New Jeru- 
7 



74 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

salem ? Take, as the crowning fact in the argument, 
the qualifications for admission into this city, as de- 
clared by the seer of Patmos. They are precisely 
those which fit one for membership in the kingdom 
of heaven ; and which, therefore, constitute him a 
member of that true but invisible church on earth, 
which makes one with the church in heaven. 

Observe, it is only the righteous — only the faith- 
ful doers of the heavenly Father's will, who are 
entitled to admission into this city. And all who do 
his will on earth, belong to his family and house- 
hold. They and they only constitute his true and 
living church. And if this church is what was typi- 
fied and foreshadowed by the New Jerusalem which 
John beheld in vision, it is plain that the mere belief 
or intellectual reception of the truth cannot secure 
one's admission into it. For the same qualifications 
are required for admission into the Lord's church on 
earth, as for admission into his kingdom in heaven ; 
for his true church is his kingdom on earth, which is 
intimately associated and makes one with his king- 
dom in heaven. And only the faithful doers of the 
truth have their hearts cleansed of selfishness and 
sin, arid thus are fitted for admission into heaven. 
As the Lord says : " Not eveiy one that saith unto 
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." And as none can enter heaven 
without keeping the Lord's commandments, or with- 
out shunning all known evil as sin against Him, 
neither can they enter the true and living church on 



THE TITLE TO CITIZENSHIP. 75 

earth in any other way. Accordingly it is written of 
the New Jerusalem,- or of the terms of admission 
into it : " And there shall in nowise enter into it any- 
thing thatdefileth, neither whatsoever worketh abom- 
ination or maketh a lie ; but they that are written in 
the Lamb's book of life." And again : " Blessed 
are they that do his commandments, that they may 
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." 

Yes : none but the faithful doers of the truth can 
ever really enter or have an abiding place in the 
New Jerusalem ; for none others come into that state 
of union with the Lord and fellowship with the 
angels, which is the true church state. But all who 
do acknowledge the Lord and humbly strive to keep 
his commandments, by whatever names they may be 
known on earth, are known and acknowledged in the 
realms above as really belonging to the Golden City. 
They have entered through the gates into the city. 

Such, briefly stated, is Swedenborg's explanation 
of the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse, and of the 
meaning of the principal symbols employed in its 
description. Of its reasonableness and consistency, 
as well as its agreement with other parts of Scripture 
and the indications of God's beneficent purposes in 
the past history and present condition of the church, 
the reader is left to form his own conclusion. But 
he should not overlook (for this is a material part of 
the evidence in the case) the general state of Apoca- 
lyptic interpretation, and the darkness, confusion, and 
contradiction which have prevailed among learned 



?6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

commentators up to the present time, with regard to 
the meaning and purpose of this book — some evi- 
dence of which has been presented in previous 
chapters. If he desires to pursue the inquiry, and to 
learn the signification of the less important symbols 
mentioned in this twenty-first chapter of the Reve- 
lation, we would refer him to Swedenborg's Apoca- 
lypse Revealed repeatedly quoted in the present 
chapter. 



V. 

THE NEW JERUSALEM NOT A SECT. 

WE have seen that, according to Swedenborg's 
interpretation of the Apocalypse, John's 
vision of the descent of the New Jerusalem from 
Qod out of heaven, typified and foreshadowed a new 
and fuller revelation to mankind, of the unspeakable 
love and wisdom of the Lord; a new and more 
complete unfolding of the doctrines of heaven, and 
of the laws of our inner and heavenly life ; a new 
revealing of our connection with the invisible world 
of spirits, and of the spiritual meaning as well as the 
wondrous power and great glory of the written 
Word ; and, along with these new and sublime dis- 
closures — all " from God out of heaven " — a fresh 
influx into human hearts of the saving and all-recon- 
ciling principle of love. In short, that it fore- 
shadowed such a dispersion of the old darkness, the 
old superstitions, the old philosophy, the old hatreds, 
the old and withering sectarianism, and such a new 
and unprecedented influx of truth, liberty and love 
— such a revival of the knowledge and spirit of true 
religion, accompanied by such a new and wide-spread 
enlightenment, as to constitute a new condition of 
our terrestrial humanity ; or a " new church " on 
earth, which would be in closer fellowship than any 
7* 77 



7 8 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

preceding one with the church in heaven; thus 
realizing the fulfillment of the prophetic declaration, 
" Behold I make all things new." 

But is the church signified by the New Jerusalem 
of the Apocalypse, a new sect ? Is it, or is' to be, a 
visible body of people distinguished from all others 
by their religious beliefs, or by any outward and 
visible sign ? Is it to be a new religious organiza- 
tion based upon the teachings of Swedenborg, and 
one, therefore, whose limits may be as accurately 
defined as those of the Episcopal, Methodist, Presby- 
terian, or Roman Catholic Church ? Is this Swe- 
denborg's idea of "the New Church signified by 
the New Jerusalem"? This is the question we are 
now to consider — and an important question it is, 
as we shall have occasion to show hereafter. 



REGARDED AS A SECT BY MANY. 

Probably a large majority of the people in Chris- 
tendom who have heard of the denomination known 
as the New Jerusalem Church, regard this church as 
only another Christian sect. Nor need we wonder 
at this. How, indeed, could it be otherwise, in view 
of the fact that the students of Swedenborg have for 
the most part organized themselves into a separate 
religious body, and. are in the habit of speaking of 
this body as "the church of the New Jerusalem," or 
"the New Church" — precisely as if such visible 
organization were this church. The largest number 
of the receivers of his doctrines in this country have 



REGARDED AS A SECT. 79 

joined in one organization, and become incorporated 
under the name of " The General Convention of the 
New Jerusalem in the United States of America." 
The first sentence in an article in the American 
Cyclopcedia on the " New Jerusalem Church," de- 
fines this church to be " a religious body which holds 
the doctrines set forth in the theological works of 
Emanuel Swedenborg." When a person receives 
these doctrines, and connects himself with some 
organization bearing the name or professing the doc- 
trines of the New Church, he is spoken of familiarly 
as' a new acquisition to the New Jerusalem, or as 
coming into the New Jerusalem. 

It thus appears that many who accept the doc- 
trines of the New Church, think and speak of this 
Church as if it were a visible body of people com- 
posed exclusively of those who acknowledge the 
claims and accept the teachings of the Swedish seer. 
They speak of themselves or their organization as 
" the church of the New Jerusalem," " the New 
Church," "the New Jerusalem in the United States," 
etc. And some have (consistently enough) gone so 
far as to claim for this new organization the exclu- 
sive right to the Christian name ; and have denied 
to all other church organizations the right to ad- 
minister the Christian ordinances — claiming that 
they alone are the Lord's true and only church on 
earth, and have exclusive authority, therefore, in all 
matters pertaining to the church.* 

* In a Report of the " ordaining ministers " on the subject of Bap- 
tism presented at a meeting of "the General Convention of the New 



SO THE GOLDEN CITY. 

THE TRUE CHURCH, BUT NOT A SECT. 

But the New Church of which Swedenborg speaks, 
and which he says is signified by the holy city New 
Jerusalem, is clearly not a sect. It is not a new 
religious organization based upon his teachings, nor 
a visible body of any kind. For see what this city 
is called in the Revelation, and what is predicated 
of it. It is called " the Bride, the Lamb's wife " — 
a designation applicable to none but the righteous. 
And are all the righteous to be found in any single 
religious organization ? Or is it certain — is it 
probable — that all who accept Swedenborg's claims 
and teachings belong to this class ? Are none of 
God's people to be found in other church organiza- 
tions ? 

The same thing, also, is implied by the measure of 
the New Jerusalem, which is said to be "the measure 
of a man, that is, of an angel " — showing that only 
the manly or angelic graces of character belong to 
it. And these, surely, are not all to be found in any 

Jerusalem in the United States " some years ago, and adopted by 
that body, the committee, referring to all other ecclesiastical organiza- 
tions under the designation of "the Old Church," say: 

" Now, inasmuch as it [the Old Church] was a church, and had 
authority to baptize and perform the other duties of a church, because 
He [the Lord] was with it ; therefore, since He has left it, it has no 
authority or power to baptize or to perform any other church duty." 
— (N. J. Magazine for 1839, p. 379.) 

And the Report, therefore, concludes that " baptism into the New 
Church," that is, baptism under the authority of their new organiza- 
tion, or by the hands of some one whom it recognizes as a New 
Church minister, " is the only real baptism." 



WHO CANNOT ENTER IT. 8 1 

one organization. Again, the city is said to be "pure 
gold" — which means that its distinguishing charac- 
teristic is pure, unselfish love. Should we expect to 
find any one sect or organization enjoying a monop- 
oly of this ? 

It is further said that " there shall not enter into 
it [the New Jerusalem] anything that defileth or 
worketh abomination or maketh a lie; but they who 
are written in the Lamb's book of life ; " which 
words, as Swedenborg explains them, "mean that 
no one will be received into the Lord's New Church, 
who adulterates the goods and falsifies the truths of 
the Word, and who does evil from confirmation. . . . 
No others will be received into the New Church 
which is the New Jerusalem, but they who believe 
in the Lord and live according to his commandments 
in the Word." (A. R. 924, '5.) The obvious inference 
from which is, that all who do believe in the Lord 
and live according to his commandments in the 
Word, will be received into the New Jerusalem. In 
other words, that the church signified by the New 
Jerusalem will consist of just this class of persons, 
and of none others. And are all the people of this 
character (and none others) to be found in that 
new ecclesiastical organization known as " the New 
Church " ? Are there none save the readers of Swe- 
denborg, or the receivers of the doctrines of the 
New Jerusalem as taught by him, who " believe in 
the Lord, and live according to his commandments 
in the Word " ? The idea is preposterous. 

The real New Jerusalem, then, includes all right- 
F 



82 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

ecus people of whatever name or creed ; — all whose 
hearts have become conjoined to the Lord through 
a life of obedience to his precepts. It is the true but 
invisible church — invisible, because its limits cannot 
be accurately defined by men ; because its members 
are really known only to Him whose eye penetrates 
the deep places of the heart. "The church," says 
Swedenborg, [i. e. the true church — the church sym- 
bolized by the New Jerusalem,] " consists only of 
those who from the heart acknowledge the Divine 
of the Lord, learn truths from Him by the Word, 
and do them. No others form any part of the church 
whatever!' {Apocalypse Explained, n. 388.) They may 
believe ever so many or ever so pure truths ; yet if 
they do not live according to them, and at the same 
time acknowledge the Divine of the Lord from the 
heart (a thing which only the Lord himself can 
know), they do not form any part of the real church, 
however they may be members of some sect, or visi- 
ble church organization. 
Again Swedenborg says : 

"When a man is affected with truth for the sake of an 
end, which is that he may live accoi'ding to it, then the 
kingdom of the Lord is in him; consequently he is a 
church, and together with those of a like character, con- 
stitutes the church in general." {Arcana Coelestia, 5862.) 

" If the individual man were not a church, there would 
be no church in general. A congregation in general is 
what is commonly called a Church ; but in order that it 
may be a church, it is necessary that every individual in 
the congregation be a church." Ibid. 4292. 



CHARACTER OF THOSE OUTSIDE. 83 

We shall be brought to the same conclusion if we 
consider who are not of the New Jerusalem, accord- 
ing to the testimony of Scripture ; for all at the pres- 
ent day must ^be in it, who are not out of it. And 
in the Revelation it is written : " For without are 
dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers 
and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a 
lie." And what does this mean ? Swedenborg an- 
swers : " It means that no one will be received into 
the New Jerusalem, who makes no account of the 
commandments of the Decalogue, and does not shun 
any of the evils there enumerated as sins, and con- 
sequently lives in them." The unavoidable inference 
from which is, that those will be received into, or 
are already members of, the New Jerusalem, who do 
make account of the ten commandments, and do 
shun the evils therein enumerated as sins. And are 
not some of this class to be found in every church 
organization in Christendom ? — Yes, and some out- 
side of all the churches ? Are there not some in all 
the sects, and some outside of them all, who shun 
as sins against God the evils forbidden by the ten 
commandments ? Is it probable that these people 
are or ever will be all united in one and the -same 
visible organization ? Yet none of them are without 
the New Jerusalem, according to the testimony of 
the inspired Word. Where are they, then ? Within 
it, undoubtedly; for if not without, they must be 
within. Accordingly we read in the verse imme- 
diately preceding : 

" Blessed are they that do his commandments, 



84 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

that they may have right to the tree of life, and may 
enter in through the gates into the city : " — 

"Which means," says Swedenborg, "that they 
enjoy eternal felicity, who live according to the 
Lord's commandments, to the end that they may be 
in the Lord and the Lord in them by love, and in 
his new church by knowledges concerning Him," 
(A. R. 95 1.) "Gates mean introductory truths which 
are knowledges from the Word. The truths and 
goods of heaven and the church are in the knowl- 
edges derived from the Word ; and it is by these 
that introduction into the church is effected." For 
it is by means of truths or the knowledges of truth 
from the Word, and a life according to them y that 
men are brought into a state of internal union with 
the Lord, which is a true church state. 

EXTERNALS AND INTERNALS OF MEN. 

It is plain enough from the authorities here cited, 
who constitute that New Church signified by the 
New Jerusalem. Obviously, all that class of persons 
"who believe in the Lord, and live according to his 
commandments in the Word;" and no others. And 
can these people, while on earth, all be distinguished 
and separated from other people ? — is the question 
we are now considering. Can they be so parcelled 
out — so segregated — that they can be organized 
into a distinct and visible body, and every person of 
tolerable discernment feel an assurance that they, to 
die exclusion of all others, are the Lord's own peo- 



EXTERNALS AND INTERNALS. 85 

pie or church on earth ? No one doubts that His 
people are all seen and known of Him. But are 
they known of men ? Are men on earth endowed 
with any such power of discernment or discrimina- 
tion, that they can separate the tares from the wheat, 
or the children of the kingdom from the children of 
the wicked one ? If so, then the Lord's true church 
may exist as a visible organization ; then the limits 
of His kingdom on earth may be accurately defined ; 
then we may have His new and true church in a 
form as distinctly visible as a railroad corporation or 
a bank directory ; and may point to some particular 
body of people and say : " Lo, here is the New Je- 
rusalem ! Here is the Lord's true church ! " 

But this is not, and never will be, possible. It is 
not possible so to separate the offspring of God from 
the sons of Belial, that we can point confidently to 
one class and say, " These are from above; " and to 
the other class, and say, " Those are from beneath." 
It is not and never will be possible, in all cases, to 
distinguish the children of God from the children 
of the devil in this world. And for the obvious 
reason that men, while they tabernacle in the flesh, 
are for the most part in the state of their externals. 
Their internals are usually covered up and concealed. 
Hearts do not always speak on earth, as they do in 
heaven. You cannot always tell what a person's 
character is by his profession or outward appearance. 
And it is not the outward appearance but the inward 
character of men — the state of their hearts — which 
determines whether they are in or out of the Lord's 



S6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

true church. Yet the profession and outward ap- 
pearance are all we have to judge from in forming 
an opinion of character. Accordingly Swedenborg 
says: 

"It is very important to remember that the character 
of a man is determined by his interiors alone [which are 
known only to the Lord], and not by his exteriors separate 
from his interiors ; because the interiors are of the spirit, 
and the life of man is the life of his spirit, for the body 
lives from the spirit. Hence, therefore, the character of 
a man as determined by his interiors, remains to eternity 
the same." — H. H. 501. 

" There are some whom I knew while they lived in the 
body, and who then appeared as if in zeal for the Lord, 
the church, their country and the common good, and for 
what is just and equitable ; and yet the same in another 
life are among the infernals, and (what I wondered at) 
among the worst of them. The reason was, that their 
interiors had been filthy and profane, and they had feigned 
that zeal with a view to reputation, in order to acquire 
honors and wealth, thus with a view to themselves, but 
not with a view to what they professed with their mouths. 
Wherefore, when those externals are put off, as is the case 
at death, the internals are manifested, and appear as they 
were within, which, during the life in the body had been 
concealed from the world." — A. C. 4314. 

" The Lord alone sees the state of every one from in- 
most to outermost, as also what a man has been from 
infancy to old age, and what he will be to eternity, and 
likewise what place he will have either in heaven or in 
hell ; and this the Lord sees in an instant, and from Him- 
self, because He is the divine Truth itself or the Word ; 
but angels and men do not see this in the least, because 



THE LORD ALONE SEES THE LNTERNALS. 8? 

they are finite ; and the finite see only a few things, and 
these only external" (See the whole no. A. R. 262.) "A 
church is not possible with those who are in externals 
without an internal, inasmuch as the church is in the in- 
ternal of man, and not in the external without it." — ■ 
A. C 10698. 

" To judge what is the quality of the interior mind and 
soul, thus what the quality of any one's spiritual state is 
[and it is this which determines whether he be of the true 
church or not], and thence what his lot is after death, is 
not allowed, inasmuch as it is known to the Lord alone; 
neither does the Lord reveal this till after the person' 's de- 
cease. . . . That the interiors of the mind, co7icealed in 
the world, are revealed after death, is because this con- 
cerns, and is advantageous to, the societies into which man 
then comes, for all are then spiritual." — C. L. 523. 

"Everyman, good as well as bad, does uses, and he 
does uses from some love. Let it be supposed that in the 
world there is a society composed of mere devils, and a 
society composed of mere angels ; and I think that the 
devils in their society, from the fire of the love of self, and 
from the splendor of their own glory, would do as many 
uses as the angels in theirs. Who, therefore, can know 
from what origin love and uses are? To this the two 
angels answered : Devils do uses for the sake of them- 
selves, and for the sake of fame, that they may be raised to 
honors, or may gain wealth ; but angels do not perform 
uses for the sake of these, but for the sake of uses from the 
love of them. Man cannot distinguish those uses, but the 
Lord distinguishes them. Every one who believes in the 
Lord and shuns evils as sins, does uses from the Lord ; 
but every one who does not believe in the Lord, and does 
not shun evils as sins, does uses from himself, and for the 



88 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

sake of himself; this is the distinction between uses by 
devils, and uses by angels" — a distinction which man 
cannot make, but only the Lord. — C. L. 266 ; A. C. 8620, 
3489 j T. C.R. 443- 

From the passages here cited, we learn not only 
that there are internals and externals belonging to 
the mind, but that there is often a great dissimilarity 
between them ; that the church is in the man's in- 
ternals ; or, in other words, that the character of his 
internals is what determines whether he belongs to 
the true church or not; and that these internals can- 
not be seen and known of man, but only of Him 
who alone is able to search the deep recesses of the 
heart; consequently no one but the Lord himself 
sees and knows who they are that constitute his true 
and living church. 

TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 

It will be seen that the foregoing extracts from 
Swedenborg agree entirely with the teachings of 
the inspired Word. The distinction between the 
internals and externals of men, and the necessity of 
internal righteousness, are clearly taught in Scripture. 
The Lord says to the Scribes and Pharisees : 

" Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed 
appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead 
men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so ye also 
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye 
are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." — Matt, xxiii. 27, 
28. Again it is written : " The Lord seeth not as man 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 89 

seeth ; for man looketh on the outward appearance, 
but the Lord looketh on the he art ? — I Sam. xvi. 7. 

And the difficulty of separating the good from the 
evil in this world, and the danger of attempting it if 
their externals are alike, is plainly taught in the par- 
able of the tares and the wheat. When the servants 
of the Lord, eager to root up the tares before the 
harvest-time, came and said, " Wilt thou that we go 
and gather them up ? " the answer of Divine Wisdom 
was, and forever is : " Nay ; lest while ye gather up 
the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let 
both grow together until the harvest," etc. 

Now the wheat mentioned in the parable, "are 
the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the 
children of the wicked one." In other words, the 
wheat denotes those who are, and the tares those who 
are not, of the Lord's true church. And the harvest, 
when used with reference to men, denotes that full 
and ripe state into which all will come in the other 
world when they shall have passed the ordeal of a 
final judgment, or when their internals shall have 
become fully developed. Then "the children of the 
kingdom" and "the children of the wicked one," 
can be easily distinguished; and can therefore be 
arranged in separate and distinct societies without 
harm to either. But until then, it is according to 
divine order that the tares and the wheat should 
remain together; — that the "children of the wicked 
one " should mingle in the same external organiza- 
tions with " the children of the kingdom ; " and not 

that the latter should be all " organized apart," or 
8* 



90 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

formed into separate societies — into a distinct and 
visible body. Hence the divine command forever is: 
" Let both grow together until the harvest!' 

And that the interiors of men, whereby alone their 
true character is determined, are to be laid open in 
the other world, is taught in that chapter of the 
Revelation which speaks of the opening of the books 
at the time of the judgment; and where it is said 
that "the dead were judged out of those things 
which were written in the books [i.e., registered on 
the living tablet of the heart] according to their 
works." 

Observe that the books are not opened until after 
death ; for then, and not before, is the internal and 
real character of every one made manifest. The 
hidden things of the heart, the motives which are 
often obscure and uncertain even to the man himself 
in this world, are then revealed ; so that, as Sweden- 
borg says, " no one [in the other world] is con- 
demned, until he himself is interiorly convinced that 
he is in evil, and that he is utterly incapable of being 
in heaven." And this agrees with another passage, 
which says: "For there is nothing covered, that 
shall not be revealed ; neither hid, that shall not be 
known." 

The covered and hidden things here referred to, are 
obviously the things of the heart, the motives, or, as 
Swedenborg calls them, "the interiors," which are 
usually covered over and concealed in this world 
from the eyes of men, but are opened and revealed 
in the world of spirits. This is clear from the words 



SOULS UNVEILED. 9 1 

immediately preceding, " Beware ye of the leaven of 
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy ; " and also from 
those which follow: " Therefore whatsoever ye have 
spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and 
that which ye have spoken in the ear, in closets, 
shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." 

We see therefore, that the Scripture abounds in 
testimony confirmatory, of Swedenborg's teaching, 
that there are interiors and exteriors belonging to 
the human mind ; and that the interiors which de- 
termine a man's real character, are generally con- 
cealed in this world, but fully disclosed in the world 
of spirits : for the seer assures us that " all men 
without exception are let into this state [the state of 
their interiors] after death, because it is the genuine 
state of their spirits!' And before they are let into 
this state, or so long as the hidden things of the 
heart remain hidden, their real character cannot be 
known. Their motives cannot be seen, and therefore 
their true quality cannot, with certainty, be deter- 
mined. But " when spirits are in this second state 
[i. e., the state of their interiors], it appears without 
disguise what they really were when they were in 
the world ; for they publish every thing which they 
had done or said in secret, because external things 
no longer restrain them." — H. H. 507. Then " the 
children of the kingdom" can easily be distinguished 
from "the children of the wicked one;" or those who 
are, from those who are not, of the Lord's true church. 

The Scripture further teaches that it is not safe 
to rely upon men's professions, because these profes- 



92 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

sions are never a sure index to the quality of life 
within. It teaches that men may " draw nigh unto 
God with their mouths, and honor Him with their 
lips, while their hearts are far from Him." It teaches 
that there are those who make loud professions — 
who cry, "Lord, Lord," — but will never enter into 
the heavenly kingdom, because, in their hearts, they 
do not the will of the Father which is in heaven ; i. e., 
do not act from religious principle. It teaches that 
there are those who " outwardly appear righteous 
unto men," but who are really quite different from 
what they seem — who "within, are full of hypocrisy 
and iniquity." Every one acknowledges the truth 
of this. 

Yet people's professions, together with their out- 
ward conduct, are all we have to judge them by. 
Deceptive standards, both. It is impossible to know 
from a man's profession, or from his belief, what his 
real character is. One may profess, and may really 
understand and believe true doctrine derived from 
the Word, yet for all that be a bad man ; while an- 
other may profess his belief of doctrines that are 
false, and yet be a good. man. We can never know 
a person's real character from his outward profes- 
sion ; because this profession may not be in agree- 
ment with his life's love — may not, indeed, be his 
real belief which depends upon the quality of his 
inner life. People, "when they make a lip-profes- 
sion of truths from the Word, or from the doctrinals 
of their church, suppose that they are in the belief of 
those truths. And it appears to them as if they 



NOT THE HEAD BUT THE HEART. 93 

were ; but still they are not, if the life be evil." — A.. 
C- 7 $77- This shows us that there may be an un- 
derstanding and lip-profession of the truth, without 
a life in conformity therewith. Nothing, indeed, is 
more common. The chief work in regeneration — 
by far the most difficult part of this work — consists 
not in learning or understanding ; but in doing, the 
truth. And we are not in, or members of, the Lord's 
true church unless we religiously live the truth we 
understand, and so bring our hearts into conformity 
with its requirements. 

We have abundant authority, then, for believing 
that it is the state of each one's heart or the nature 
of his ruling love, which settles the question of his 
being in or out of the true church — a child of the 
kingdom or a child of the wicked one. And since 
no eye save that of the all-seeing One can penetrate 
beneath appearances and look upon the heart, there- 
fore He only can know who are his people, or who 
really belong to his church — for the members of 
his true church are not and cannot be known to men. 
People often appear so different outwardly, from what 
they are inwardly. Outwardly they appear righteous 
sometimes, while within they are full of hypocrisy and 
iniquity. Very good works (outwardly viewed) may 
sometimes spring from base and selfish motives ; in 
which case they are good only on the outside — like 
fruit decayed and rotten at the core. How, then, 
can the Lord's kingdom be so organized as to exist 
in a distinct and visible form here on earth? — and 
the New Jerusalem is his kingdom. Societies and 



94 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

larger bodies may be organized for church purposes. 
Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Roman 
Catholics, may be organized, and exist as visible 
bodies distinguished by certain outward tests cogni- 
zable by men. But the New Jerusalem is not and 
never will be found in any such visibly organized 
form here on earth ; — never here or there — never 
in this or that particular communion. Its members 
are and must ever be scattered throughout all the 
different communions, and some, doubtless, outside 
of them all — mediums of the Divine influx to them 
all — working like leaven among them all — impart- 
ing some measure of heavenly life to them all. And 
the everlasting and merciful decree is : " Let both 
[the righteous and the wicked] grow together until 
the harvest." Then and there only — in the world 
of spirits, where each one's character is fully de- 
veloped, and the soul becomes ripe for its final home 
— will the separation of the tares from the wheat, or 
the goats from the sheep, be useful or even possible. 
Then and there only can the New Jerusalem become 
so organized as to exist under a distinct and visible 
form. 



THE NEW JERUSALEM— THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

Let me cite one other passage from Swedenborg, 
which is very explicit in its teaching on this subject; 
— a passage which its author seems to have penned 
for the express purpose of guarding his readers 
against the error of supposing that the New Church 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 95 

whereof he wrote, was or was to be a visible body. 
The passage occurs in his True Christian Religion 
(307) where the author is unfolding the heavenly 
sense of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue, 
and reads : " In the heavenly sense, father means our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and mother the communion of 
saints, which means the Lord's church spread 
throughout the whole world." Now according to 
the doctrine of the New Church, the Lord Jesus 
Christ is the heavenly Father; and it is He who is 
to be understood by father in the heavenly sense of 
this word. And all who do so regard Him, are to 
regard, as their heavenly Mother, " the communion 
of saints, which means the Lord's church spread 
throughout the whole world." This, surely, is not a 
sect. It is no visible body of people; no distinct 
and separate communion ; no humanly but a divinely 
organized church, embracing all who are conjoined 
to the Lord by love, and whose internals are known 
only to Him. They may be wide asunder naturally 
— far apart in space, and unknown to each other; 
but internally and spiritually, as viewed by Him who 
looks at men's hearts and never at their professions 
or external church relations, they are seen to be in 
closest sympathy and fellowship — joined together 
as members of one and the same body. Spiritually 
regarded, they are one. They may profess belief in 
different doctrines; they may have subscribed dif- 
ferent religious creeds; they may belong to various 
external organizations, and be known by different 
names — and some of them by no name or outward 



96 THE GOLDEN CITY, 

sign whatever: All this matters not, nor does it 
interfere at all with their divinely organized form, 
whereby they all appear before the Lord as one man. 
They are really and truly "one body in Christ;" — a 
body quite distinct and visible to Him, but not to the 
eyes of men. Many who are "members in good 
standing" of visibly organized religious bodies, may 
form no part of this zVzvisible "body of Christ," hav- 
ing no internal fellowship or vital connection with 
it; while others may enjoy the closest union with it, 
— having their names " written in the Lamb's book 
of life " — whose names were never enrolled in the 
list of " church members " by the vote or with the 
consent of any ecclesiastical body. 

That this invisible church is what Swedenborg 
means by " the communion of saints " in the passage 
just cited, is placed beyond doubt by the general 
tenor of his teaching respecting the church, and 
especially by the following in his Arcana Coelestia, 
n - 7396' Speaking of those who constitute the 
Lord's true church on earth, he says : 

" They are scattered through the whole world, and con- 
sist of those who are in love to the Lord, and in charity 
towards the neighbor. But these scattered societies are 
collected by the Lord, [not by man,] that they also may 
represent one man, as the societies in heaven. These 
societies are not only within the church, [where the Word 
is,] but also out of it ; and, taken together, are called the 
Lord's church, scattered and collected from the good in 
the whole world, which is also called a communion. This 
communion, or this church, is the Lord's kingdom on 



THE HE A VENL Y MO THEE. 97 

earth, conjoined to his kingdom in heaven, and thus con- 
joined to the Lord himself." 

Here we have the heavenly meaning of Mother. 
We see that it is no visible body of people, but "the 
communion of saints ; " the lovers and doers of 
righteousness in every land and of every creed ; " the 
Lord's church scattered and collected from the good 
in the whole world, which is also called a com- 
munion." And as if to remove the question beyond 
controversy, and to leave no doubt that the New 
Church signified by the New Jerusalem is this true 
and invisible church — this " communion of saints " 
or " kingdom of the Lord on earth " — Swedenborg 
says, near the close of the number in the True 
Christian Religion from which we have quoted : 
" This church [the New Jerusalem of which he is 
speaking], and not the former, is wife and mother in 
this sense" — that is, in the heavenly sense just ex- 
plained. 

The former Christian church had never so under- 
stood the term Mother. Roman Catholics often 
speak of the church as a Mother. But they include 
under this designation all who belong to that par- 
ticular organization known as the Roman Catholic 
Church, without any regard to their moral character 
— and none others. But the church signified by the 
New Jerusalem — " this church, and not the former, 
is wife and mother " in a sense which overleaps the 
narrow bounds of sect, and embraces all, of what- 
ever name or creed, " who are in love to the Lord 
and in charity towards the neighbor;" and specifi- 
9 G 



98 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

cally, all among Christians " who believe in the Lord, 
and live according to his commandments in the 
Word." (A. R. 925.) This is the true but ^visible 
church of Christ — the Apocalyptic New Jerusalem 
— the heavenly Mother of all who are born of the 
Spirit. This, doubtless, is the Mother which the 
apostle had in mind when he wrote : " But Jerusalem 
which is above is free, which is the Mother of us 
all." (Gal. iv. 26.) 

In harmony with the passages already cited, and 
as furnishing still further confirmation of the truth 
that the New Jerusalem is not a visible body, but 
that its members are scattered throughout all the 
churches and the world, is the following from Swe- 
denborg's Apocalypse Explained : 

"It is said that the woman fled into the wilderness 
where she has a place prepared of God, and afterwards 
that she got the wings of an eagle and flew to her own 
place ; which means that the church which is called the 
New Jerusalem, is to tarry among those who are in the 
doctrine of faith separate from charity, while it is advanc- 
ing toward maturity [or, as the received translation has it, 
while it grows to the full], until provision is made for its 
reception among a greater number. But in that church 
there are dragons who separate faith from good works, not 
only in doctrine, but also in life ; whereas, the rest in the 
same church, who live the life of faith, which is charity, 
are not dragons, although among them; for they know 
no otherwise than that it is agreeable to doctrine that faith 
produces the fruits which are good works ; and that the 
faith which justifies and saves, is, to believe those things 
which are in the Word and do them." — n. 764. 



. AMONG DRAGONS. 99 

We are here taught that, interspersed among those 
who separate faith from good works both in theory 
and practice, like wheat among tares, are many " who 
live the life of faith, which is charity." They are 
among dragons, but are not themselves dragons, 
having none of the draconical spirit. And not only 
so, but these people are declared to be " the church 
which is called the New Jerusalem ; " and it is said 
to be in accordance with the Divine will, or agree- 
able to Divine order, that this church " tarry among 
those who are in the doctrine of faith separate from 
charity " until it grows to maturity. 

But it must not be inferred from anything here 
said, that I consider it wrong for those who receive 
the doctrines of the New Church, to organize them- 
selves into societies for the propagation of these doc- 
trines, and for worship according to them. It is 
natural that they who agree in their doctrinal views, 
should come together and organize upon the basis 
of their common beliefs. In doing this, they only 
yield to an implanted instinct or law of their nature. 
And there is nothing wrong in this. Only let them 
not. imagine that they have a better right than others 
to be considered, or to consider themselves, the 
Lord's true church on earth, because of the purer or 
greater amount of truth which it has been their 
privilege to receive. Let them remember likewise, 
that, to whom much is given, much will also be re- 
quired ; and that this is as applicable to the receiver 
of spiritual as to the receiver of natural riches. 



VI. 

THE OLD AND THE NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

SWEDENBORG repeatedly tells us that the first 
Christian Dispensation or Church was consum- 
mated and a New Dispensation or Church inaugu- 
rated, more than a hundred years ago (1757). But 
when he speaks of the end or consummation of the 
former, and the commencement or inauguration of 
the latter, it is important to bear in mind that, in his 
use of the word church in such connections, he has 
no reference whatever to persons, but to two distinct 
systems of religious doctrine, which, for the sake of 
distinction, may be called the Old and the New. 
We often use the word church in this same sense. 
Thus when we speak of the New Church as teaching 
this or that, we have no reference to what certain 
persons teach, but to what is taught in that new sys- 
tem of doctrinal theology. Swedenborg often says 
that the holy city New Jerusalem means the New 
Church with respect to doctrine. Therefore the de- 
scent of this city means the descent " from God out 
of heaven " to the plane of ordinary human intelli- 
gence, of the doctrines of this church ; or the reve- 
lation of these doctrines to the minds of men on 
earth. And when this revelation began to be made, 
then a new Age,- Dispensation or Church was in- 
augurated. 

100 



CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 10 1 

END OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN ERA. 

But whence came this idea of the end of the first 
Christian Dispensation or Church? Was it a mere 
fancy or dream of Swedenborg ? By no means. It 
is the teaching of divine prophecy. It is the very 
event pointed at by the suvriXsia tov uitivog — "the con- 
summation of the age " — so often referred to in the 
New Testament. The meaning of this Greek phrase 
shows us what we are to understand by the end of the 
church, which Swedenborg speaks of. It is the end 
of "the first Christian Era ; the close, consummation 
or winding up of that order of things which had 
existed from the time of the Lord's advent up to the 
date of the Last Judgment (1757). During this 
period an immense multitude had assembled in the 
world of spirits, the state or region intermediate be- 
tween heaven and hell, and had been permitted there 
to form for themselves imaginary heavens. They 
were immersed in direful falsities; and these had 
been accumulating for centuries, until at last there 
remained not a single truth which was not perverted 
or falsified. They formed there religious establish- 
ments — powerful hierarchies similar to those on 
earth — through whose potent influence the minds 
of men were held in a state of complete vassalage 
— fettered and imprisoned, as it were. And this 
vast multitude — these imaginary heavens in the 
world of spirits, immersed as they were in falsities, 
hung like a dark cloud over the minds of men on 
earth, and kept them darkened and imprisoned also. 



102 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

But at the time of the Last Judgment these imagi- 
nary heavens were broken up and dissipated: and 
the good among them were gathered into the new 
angelic heaven then formed, and the evil were re- 
moved from the world of spirits and arranged into 
new societies in the hells. Thus the old order of 
things there was completely overturned, and a new 
order established. This was the close or consum- 
mation of an Epoch — the end of the first Christian 
Dispensation or Church. 

Speaking of this New Heaven with which the 
New Church on earth was to be associated, and from 
or through which the spirit and principles of this 
Church would descend, Swedenborg says : 

" When the last judgment was completed, a new heaven 
was formed by the Lord, which was composed of all those 
who, from the coming of the Lord to .the present time, 
had lived in faith and charity : ... It consists of both 
Christians and Gentiles, but chiefly of little children from 
all parts of the world, who have died since the Lord's 
coming; for all these were received by the Lord, and 
educated in heaven, and instructed by the angels, and re- 
served, that they together with the others might constitute 
a new heaven. From this it may be concluded how vast 
that heaven is. 

"It is further to be observed, with respect to this new 
heaven, that it is distinct from the ancient heavens which 
were formed before the coming of the Lord } at the same 
time there is such an orderly connection between them, 
that, together they form but one heaven." — New Jerusalem 
and its Heavenly Doctrine, 2-4. 

But the new heaven of Gentiles is not the same as 



EFFECTS OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 103 

the new Christian heaven. Those of* different re- 
ligions are not promiscuously mingled in the other 
world any more than in this. There are good peo- 
ple in Gentile nations ; and these, after death, enter 
heaven; but their heaven is not the same as the 
heaven of Christians, for their genius is not the same. 
Concerning the new heaven of Christians, therefore, 
Swedenborg says : 

"In this new Christian heaven are all those who, from 
the earliest formation of the Christian church, worshiped 
the Lord and lived according to his commandments in the 
Word; and who, therefore, were in charity and at the 
same time in faith from the Lord through the Word, thus 
who were not in a dead but a living faith. In that heaven 
likewise are all the infants of Christians, because they are 
educated by the angels in these two essentials of the 
church, which consist in an acknowledgment of the Lord 
as the God of heaven and earth, and a life according to 
the commandments of the Decalogue." — A. R. 876. 

EFFECTS OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. 

That great change wrought by the last judgment 
in the world of spirits, could not be without its in- 
fluence upon people here on earth — so intimate is 
the connection between the spiritual and the natural 
worlds. And it did exert a tremendous influence. 
It released the minds of men from their previous 
state of thraldom. It opened their spiritual prison- 
houses. It revealed the pent up darkness. It ushered 
in a new Era. It introduced new light and liberty, 
and new powers of thought and action. It inaugu- 



104 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

rated a New Age — a New Church. Accordingly 
Swedenborg says : 

" The state of the world and the church before the last 
judgment was as evening and night ; but after it, as morn- 
ing and day." — " For since communication with heaven 
has been restored by the last judgment, man is able to be 
enlightened and reformed ; that is, to understand the 
divine truth of the Word, to receive it when understood, 
and to retain it when received ; for the interposing ob- 
stacles are removed." — Contin. L. J. n. 12. 

Again he says : 

"After the last judgment was accomplished there was 
light in the world of spirits, because the infernal societies 
which were removed [by that judgment], had been inter- 
posed like clouds which darken the earth. A similar light 
also then arose in men in the world, giving them new 
enlightenment." — Ibid. n. 30. 

We appeal to the history of the last hundred 
years in verification of the truth of this statement. 

But the last judgment that Swedenborg speaks of, 
did not work any immediate change in the condition 
of mundane affairs. It did not at once change the 
external order of things in the State or in the Church. 
But it did produce a change in the more interior 
realm of thought and feeling. It liberated the 
minds of men from their old bondage. It let in more 
light, so that all could see better than before. And 
this is just what Swedenborg said it would do. For 
writing shortly after the occurrence of the judgment, 
he says : 

"The great change which has been effected in the 



THE NEWNESS IN THE CHURCHES. 105 

spiritual world, does not induce any change in the natural 
world as regards the outward form ; so that the affairs of 
states — peace, treaties and wars, with all other things be- 
longing to civil communities, in general and in particular 
— will exist in the future as they have existed in the past. . . 
But with respect to the state of the church, this will be 
dissimilar hereafter. It will be similar, indeed, in the out- 
ward form, but dissimilar in the inward. To outward 
appearance divided churches will exist, and their doctrines 
will be taught, as heretofore ; and the same religions will 
exist among the gentiles as at present. But henceforth 
the man of the church [that is, the men of Christendom 
generally] will be in a more free state of thinking on mat- 
ters of faith, that is, on spiritual things which relate to 
heaven, because spiritual liberty has been restored to 
him. . . . 

" I have often conversed with the angels respecting the 
state of the church hereafter. They said they did not 
know the things that were to come, since such knowledge 
belongs to the Lord alone ; but that they did know that 
the slavery and captivity in which the man of the church 
was formerly, is removed ; and that now, from restored 
liberty, he can better perceive interior truths if he wishes 
to perceive them, and thus be made more internal if he 
desires it." — L. J. n. 73, 74. 

THE NE WNESS IN THE CHURCHES. 

The foregoing extracts were written immediately 
after that memorable event in the world of spirits, 
which the author says he witnessed, and which he 
calls the Last Judgment And do not the history 
of theological opinion since that time, the increased 



106 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

and steadily increasing religious liberty throughout 
the world, and the changes which have taken place 
in the doctrinal beliefs, as well as in the dominant 
spirit of nearly all the churches, confirm the truth 
of his statements, and warrant the conclusion that 
some such judgment as he describes did actually 
occur at that time ? The written creeds, it is true, 
have undergone but little change; and to outivard 
appearance the churches remain very nearly as they 
were. But inwardly they are very different. In- 
wardly they have all been touched as by a new and 
rejoicing light. How differently the people of to- 
day think and talk on theological questions from 
what they did a hundred years ago ! How few now- 
a-days hold the same religious beliefs that were 
generally accepted then ! How few now really ex- 
pect to be saved by faith alone ! All are beginning 
to look upon right livi?tg as indispensable to salva- 
tion. Few believe the old dogmas of infant dam- 
nation, imputed righteousness, unconditional election 
and reprobation, or a hell of literal fire and brim- 
stone. These dogmas may still be found in the 
written creeds ; but they are not among men's real 
beliefs — certainly not among their deep convictions 
as they once were. With respect to men's religious 
beliefs, therefore, it is plain that the Divine predic- 
tion, " Behold I make all things new," has been re- 
ceiving its fulfillment during the last hundred years. 
And not less in spirit than in doctrine are the 
churches everywhere being made new. In most of 
the denominations the old, hard, exclusive, secta- 



THE NE W JER [/SALEM DESCENDING. I O? 

rian, intolerant spirit is perceptibly dying out. Al- 
most everywhere it is condemned as the spirit of 
anti-Christ; and quite a different spirit is beginning 
to take its place — a spirit more tolerant, charitable 
and just, more akin to the spirit that rules in heaven. 
Not that persecution for opinion has entirely ceased 
in the churches — I do not mean that. But the 
persecutors are not now, as they were once, among 
the most influential classes, but among those least 
respected. The best minds are everywhere coming 
to see, and practically to acknowledge, that unity 
of spirit is compatible with considerable diversity of 
belief; and that perfect agreement in all the minutiae 
of religious thought or doctrinal statement, is neither 
to be expected nor desired. 

THE NEW JERUSALEM DESCENDING. 

So that, along with the new intellectual convic- 
tions which thoughtful men and women in all the 
churches are gradually reaching, a new spirit is 
descending into the heart of our fallen humanity, 
softening, expanding, mellowing, sweetening, and 
gradually lifting it up to loftier and serener summits. 
It is the spirit of the risen and ever living Christ — ■ 
of Him whom the seer of Patmos beheld in vision 
seated upon the throne, and who is coming and 
proclaiming with new emphasis in the ears of the 
nations, " Behold I make all things new." As the 
author of that grand prose-poem, "The Heart of 
Christ," truly says : 



108 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

"The denominations are becoming more fully pos- 
sessed with the mind and spirit of Christ. If you doubt 
it compare the present century with the last, or compare 
the modern with the mediaeval ages as pertains to the 
golden fruits of a true faith, righteousness, charity, bro- 
therhood and universal love. The beatitudes of the 
Sermon on the Mount, the humanities of the sermon on 
Mount Olivet, and the love that breathes through the 
Johannean discourses, never beat with more tender pulses 
than now, to move and inspire all the ecclesiasticisms of 
the Christian world. Worthier and lovelier views of the 
divine character and attributes ; zeal for Christ purged 
of all bitterness from the gall of the unregenerate heart ; 
tolerance of error in opinion ; intolerance of wrong to 
any child of God, or of cruelty to any creature He has 
made ; better theories of human nature and destiny ; and 
better feelings of human fellowship that make every man, 
not only the image of God but the image of every other 
man, — these mark the advent of Christ, as John foresaw 
it, — Christianity displacing at length the old Judaism 
and heathenism, as the New Jerusalem coming down 
from God out of heaven. ... 

" There is not a denomination of Christendom, whose 
literature we are acquainted with, which does not show 
that the Spirit is coming within them with greater fulness 
and tenderness, making their theologies fluid in the love 
of Christ, as they reflect from his face in softer light the 
Beatitudes which He spake and lived. 

" All this being so, another consequence inevitably 
follows. We cannot move towards the Christ without 
coming closer to each other. Leave out Him and his 
unitizing Word, and let every man strike out for himself, 
and we tend to a crumbling individualism, to endless dis- 



THE NE WNESS E VER Y WHERE. 1 09 

traction and confusion. But those who acknowledge Jesus 
Christ as the supreme authority and guide, and enter more 
into his all-revealing mind, are making progress towards 
the harmonizing truths which He represents. However 
wide apart they may be at the start, their progress is ever 
on converging lines. Essential truth becomes more and 
more central and manifest, the non-essential falls away to 
its subordinate place, and orthodox and unorthodox move 
alike towards a higher and higher unity. It is not that 
any one sect is making a conquest of the others, but Jesus 
Christ is making a conquest of us all." — p. 513-16. 

m THE NEWNESS EVERYWHERE. 

And in all the less vital yet subsidiary human inter- 
ests stupendous changes have taken place during the 
last hundred years, and are still in progress, which 
nothing less than some great change in the super- 
sensual realm, and a new dispensation of truth from 
heaven, can adequately account for. Cannot every 
one see that in science, philosophy, literature, the 
mechanic arts, industrial processes, methods of educa- 
tion, modes of travel and communication — in every- 
thing, indeed, which pertains to the welfare and 
progress of our race, the Lord has been and is still 
making all things new ? 

We say, then, that the old Dispensation or Age — 
the old Church — the old system of doctrinal theol- 
ogy which had gathered strength and borne sway 
for more than fourteen centuries, lost its sovereignty 
at the time of the Last Judgment. As a vital and 
controlling power on earth, it had reached its con- 



110 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

summation. And thereupon a new Age was in- 
augurated. A new Morning dawned on the world. 
New light broke forth from the opening heavens. 
New thoughts and new freedom were born; new 
ideas of human rights and human destiny ; new 
views of God, duty and immortality; and a new 
spirit began to pulsate in human hearts. The old 
Age went out and was succeeded by a new and 
brighter one, as every night is succeeded by a new 
day. Swedenborg illustrates the passing away of the 
old and the coming of the new Church, in this wise : 

" Every day begins in morning, progresses, ends in 
night, and then begins anew; every year also begins in 
spring, progresses through summer to autumn, closes in 
winter, and then begins again. It is similar with churches. 
. . . Furthermore, the church appears to the Lord as one 
man ; and this grand man must pass through his stages of 
life like an individual, that is to say, from infancy to 
youth, from this to manhood, and finally to old age ; and 
then when he dies, he will rise again." — T. C. R. 762. 

Yes : will rise to a new and more glorious exist- 
ence. So, too, the church, overwhelmed and ruined 
by the falsities and evils in which it was immersed 
at the time of the last judgment, is, through the ac- 
knowledgment and rejection of these and the influx 
of new light and life from heaven, gradually rising 
to newness of life — decking herself in robes of 
beauty, and preparing for a closer and more joyful 
marriage union with the Lord. This is the way the 
New Jerusalem was seen coming down "prepared as 
a bride adorned for her husband." 



VII. 

TEST OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

AFTER the last judgment, with which the first 
Christian Aion or Age terminated, a new Dis- 
pensation commenced. And since that time all have 
been living under this Dispensation. And all the 
good, of whatever name or creed, are internally as- 
sociated with the new heaven of angels (no matter 
what their external church relations), and together 
constitute the church of the New Jerusalem. For 
all " who are in the good of love and charity, are in 
heaven as to their internals, and belong to an angelic 
society whose good is of a character similar to their 
own " (N. J. D. 9) ; and all good people in Christen- 
dom are internally associated with the New Christian 
heaven — for there is no old Christian heaven now. 
These constitute the Lord's New Church in its 
specific sense. For Swedenborg says: "The Church 
exists specifically where the Word is, and where the 
Lord is thereby known." Again : " The church 
where the Lord is known and where the Word ex- 
ists, is (with respect to the rest of the human race) 
like the heart and lungs in man with respect to the 
other parts of the body, which live from them as the 
fountains of their life " (N. J. D. 246. See also A. C. 



112 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

637, 931, 2054, 2853, 9276.) By the church here, 
He means no visible body, but the true and invisi- 
ble church, or all the good people in Christendom, 
whose real character, however, is known only to the 
Lord. This is the New Church in its specific sense, 
which is in union and fellowship with the new Chris- 
tian Heaven. 

DOCTRINAL BELIEFS NO ADEQUATE TEST. 

But the belief has prevailed that only those who 
read and openly accept the doctrines of the New 
Church as taught by Swedenborg, and who are 
popularly known, therefore, as ie Swedenborgians," 
really belong to the church of the New Jerusalem ; 
and that all who belong to other organizations where 
false doctrines are professed and taught, must neces- 
sarily be without the pale of this church. And here 
and there we meet with a passage in the writings of 
the great seer, which is thought to justify this belief; 
such as: "'And there shall be no night there/ means 
that in the New Jerusalem there will not be any 
falsity of faith; and that the men there will be in 
spiritual light from the Word from the Lord alone." 

Now many of the good people in Christendom, it 
is said, are in falsities of faith, and cannot, therefore, 
be in the New Jerusalem, because in this church 
"there will be no falsity of faith." Apparently this 
is so; but really not so. For these good people are 
not really but only apparently in falsities. Those 
which they profess to believe, because they are laid 



RECEIVERS OF HE A VENL Y TRUTHS. 1 1 3 

down in the creeds they have subscribed, are not in 
their hearts. They are not really loved but rejected 
by them internally. They are not in agreement with 
the good of charity in which these persons are prin- 
cipled. They are merely in their memory, or the 
outermost court of their minds. Therefore these 
people, we say, are not really in the falsities they 
profess, because these falsities are not really in them, 
— for they are not in their hearts. At heart they are 
in the truth ; for only the truth agrees with the good 
of charity in which they are principled. Internally, 
therefore, they are in the truth. This, and not the 
falsities set forth in their creeds, is what is written 
on their hearts. 



WHO RECEIVE THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES? 

But those, it is said, must belong to the church of 
the New Jerusalem, who receive the doctrines of this 
church. Undoubtedly — if they do really receive 
them. But who are they ? Who receive the heavenly 
doctrines — not apparently or by profession merely, 
but in reality? An intellectual apprehension of truth 
is not the real reception of it. It cannot be said to 
be received by us, until it enters the will-principle 
and is made the rule of our life. Until then, it is 
only in the outer court of the mind, not permanently 
enthroned within. A person may receive into his 
understanding all the doctrines of the New Jeru- 
salem, yet live in open violation of the precepts of 
the Decalogue. Does he, then, really receive these 
10* H 



1 14 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

doctrines ? Certainly not. They are not in him, 
because not in his heart. And whatever may be his 
lip-profession or his external church relations, he is 
not in and forms no part of the New Church signi- 
fied by the New Jerusalem. 

How fully these postulates are sustained by Swe- 
denborg, will be seen from the following extracts : 

"The church is the Lord's kingdom on earth. (See 
page 96.) It is called the church not from the circum- 
stance of possessing the Word and doctrinals thence de- 
rived, nor from the circumstance of the Lord being known 
there, and the sacraments being there administered ; but 
it is the church from this circumstance, that life is formed 
according to the Word, or according to doctrine derived 
from the Word, and that doctrine is the rule of life. 
They who are not of this description, do not belong to 
the church, but are out of it ; and they who live in evil, 
thus contrary to doctrine, are further out of the church 
than the Gentiles, who know nothing whatever about the 
Lord, the Word or the sacraments. . . . Every one who 
lives in the good of charity and faith, is a church and 
kingdom of the Lord. The church in general is con- 
stituted of those who are churches in particular, however 
remote they are from each other as to place of abode. 
This, then, is the church which is meant by the sons of 
Israel."— A. C. 6637. 

And that the New Church signified by the New 
Jerusalem, is the church here defined as consisting 
of " every one who lives in the good of charity and 
faith," may be seen from the explanation of the 
twelve sons or twelve tribes of Israel in the Apoca- 
lypse Revealed, n. 348-362. 



LIVING THE TRUTH— ESSENTIAL. 115 

" Where men know and think according to doctrine, 
there the church may be; but where they act according to 
doctrine, there alone the church is. Hence the spiritual 
church, or, what is the same, the man of the church, first 
becomes a church when acting from charity, which indeed 
is the very doctrine of faith. The commandments were 
given that men may live according to them, not that they 
may be acquainted with them merely; for it is in this 
way that man obtains in himself the kingdom of the 
Lord, which consists solely of mutual love and the hap- 
piness thence derived." — Ibid. 916. 

"They who say they belong to the church, who are in 
the affection of truth, and not in the good of truth, that 
is, who do not live according to truth, are much deceived ; 
they are out of the church however they may have been 
admitted into the congregation of the church [that is, into 
the visible organization called the church]." — Ibid. 3963. 

"When they who live wickedly make a lip-profession 
of truths from the Word, or from the doctrinals of their 
church, they suppose that they are in the belief of those 
truths. It also appears to them as if they were ; still they 
are not if their life is evil. . . . Falsities agreeing with 
their evil lusts, exist interiorly with those who live wick- 
edly, however they may think they do not. That this is 
so, is very manifest in the other life, when externals are 
removed and such persons are let into their interiors : 
then falsities burst forth from the evils which had been of 
their life." — Ibid. 7557. 

" Truth without good cannot be said to be interiorly in 
man ; it is only in his memory as something scientific, 
which does not enter into him and make him a man until 
it becomes of his life ; and it then becomes of his life 
when he loves it, and from love lives according to it; when 



1 1 6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

this is the case, then the Lord dwells with him. This also 
the Lord teaches in John xiv. 21, 23." — Ibid. 10153. 

"It is manifest that the truths of faith cannot be ac- 
knowledged as truths, that is, the acknowledgment of 
them so much talked of cannot exist, except outwardly and 
in words only, unless they are implanted in charity ; other- 
wise inwardly and in heart they are denied." (Ibid. 2049.) 
" Truth with man is altogether according to the principle 
of good which appertains to him. " (Ibid. 2429.) "The 
truths belonging to a man who is not principled in good, 
are indeed truths in themselves, but they are not truths in 
him. 1 ' (Ap. Ex. 48.) 

" The truths of faith cannot be acknowledged as truths, 
that is, the acknowledgment of them so much talked of can- 
not exist except outwardly and in words only, unless they 
are implanted in charity; otherwise, they are inwardly and 
at heart denied. . . . The character of every one's interior 
is made manifest in the other life when the exteriors are 
removed ; and it is then seen that, where there is no char- 
ity, the interiors are in complete opposition to all truths 
[however these may have been openly acknowledged in 
the world]." 

DO FALSITIES OF FAITH DISQUALIFY? 

We see from the foregoing passages, that a man 
may be in the outward or apparent acknowledgment 
of the highest truths, and at the same time be in- 
wardly in the denial and rejection of them. So on 
the other hand, he may be in the intellectual recep- 
tion and professed belief of many and great falsities, 
yet these may never have been received into his 
heart. And if not — if he lives the life of chanty, 



FALSITY MODIFIED BY LOVE. 1 1 7 

the falsities he professes to believe are not falsities in 
him ; nor is he really in them. At heart he is in the 
truth ; and interiorly he is associated with the new 
angelic heaven, and is, therefore, a member of the 
New Jerusalem whatever be his external church 
relations. Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

"If any one acknowledge for a doctrinal, that charity 
is grounded in faith, and he lives in charity toward his 
neighbor, in this case he is not indeed in the truth as to 
doctrine, but still he is in truth as to life ; consequently 
there is in him the Lord's church or kingdom." (A. C. 

345*0 

" If charity were in the first place, there would not be 
made more churches than one, by distinguishing between 
them according to opinions concerning the truths of faith ; 
but the church would be called one, containing all who are 
in the good of life." (Ibid. 6761.) 

"There are falsities given with, those who are in the 
good of life, but interiorly in these falsities there is good, 
which causes the evil of the false to be removed ; hence 
that falsity before the angels does not appear as falsity, but 
as a species of truth ; for the angels look at the interior 
things of faith, [which always depend upon the life,] and 
not at the exterior. ' ' (Ibid. 10648.) 

"The falsities of their religion [all those who live in 
the good of charity] are accepted by the Lord as truths, 
because inwardly in their falsities, there is the good of 'love ; 
and the good of love qualifies all truth, and in such case 
qualifies the falsity which is believed by such to be truth." 
(Ap. Ex. 625.) 

" They within the church are in falsities and at the same 
time in good, who are in heresies and in the life of good." 
(A. C. 831 1.) "It is no injury to such [as live the life of 



Il8 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

charity] that they make profession of faith, and consider 
it [alone] to be saving, like others ; for in their faith there 
is charity." (A. C. 2388.) 

" Moreover, there are truths which are only the appear- 
ances of truth, such as are those of the literal sense of the 
Word, which are also accepted by the Lord as genuine 
truths when there is in them the good of love to Him and 
the neighbor, or charity. In the other life also the good 
which is inwardly hid in them dissipates the appearances, 
and lays open the spiritual or genuine truths." (Ap. E. 625.) 

"Since the angels of heaven do not perceive anything 
else in man but his love, and thence his affection, desires 
and delights, consequently his ends on account of which 
he thinks in this or that manner, therefore when they per- 
ceive in him the love of truth for the sake of the uses of 
life, which are the true ends, then they do not see any 
falsities from evil ; and if they see falsities which are not 
from evil, still they know that these falsities do no injury 
because there is no evil in them." — Ibid. 867. 

" What is false is not imputed to any one who lives well 
according to the dogmas of his religion, since it is not his 
fault if he does not know truths. For the good of life 
according to one's religion contains within it the affection 
of knowing truths, which such persons also learn and re- 
ceive when they come into the other life." (A. C. 455.) 

" Evils which belong to the will, are what condemn a 
man and sink him down to hell ; and falsities only so far 
as they become conjoined with evils; then one follows the 
other. This is proved by numerous instances of persons 
who are in falsities, and yet are saved." — Ibid. 845. 

"The greater part of those born within the churches 
where the doctrine of faith alone and justification thereby 
is received, do not know what faith alone is, nor what is 



LIFE RATHER THAN DOCTRINE. 119 

meant by justification. Therefore when they hear these 
things from their teachers, they think that a life according 
to God's precepts in his Word is thereby understood. . . . 
And when they are instructed concerning faith alone and 
justification thereby, they suppose that faith alone is to 
think concerning God and salvation, and how they ought 
to live ; and that justification is to live before God. 

" In the spiritual world to which every man goes after 
death, it is not the character of your faith into which 
inquiry is made, nor of your doctrine, but of your life, 
whether it has been of this character or that ; for it is 
known that such as a man's life is, such is his faith — nay, 
more, such is his doctrine ; for life forms its doctrine and 
faith for itself." — D. P. 101. 

We see; then, from the foregoing extracts, that 
men's professed beliefs are no evidence of the state 
of their hearts. They may hold many doctrinal 
errors, having been so instructed, yet have love to 
the Lord and the neighbor in their hearts ; or they 
may receive (intellectually) all the doctrines of the 
New Jerusalem, yet not receive them into their will, 
and not be internally, therefore, in association with 
the new heaven of angels. As Rev. Mr. Clissold, 
in his Preface to " Illustrations of the End of the 
Church," says: 

" There are two things to be remembered. First, that 
a person may love God and his neighbor, and yet believe 
some things that are false. Under such circumstances, 
untruth does not hurt him. False doctrine is, indeed, a 
deadly thing ; but all deadly things do not hurt : for our 
Saviour says of his true disciples, If they drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them. Secondly, a person may have 



120 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

no love of God, and yet maintain true doctrine. In this 
case he is, nevertheless, not a true disciple of Christ. The 
first has within him the essence of a true church, but not 
the perfect doctrinal form ; the second has the doctrinal 
form, but not the real essence. A church composed of 
individuals such as the latter, would nevertheless not be 
a church ; there might be an outward appearance of life 
and health, but inwardly there would be nothing but death 
and corruption."- — p. viii. 

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

But can any one, it is asked, really belong to the 
New Jerusalem or the Lord's true church on earth, 
who denies and rejects the essential doctrines of this 
church ? Can any one belong to it who does not 
acknowledge or receive its fundamentals ? Certainly 
not. But what are the fundamentals of this church, 
and who are they that really receive them ? These 
are important questions in this connection. 

We have already seen that all now are internally 
associated with the new heaven of angels, and 
therefore belong to the true church on earth, who 
acknowledge the Lord and live according to his 
commandments in the Word. And the proper ac- 
knowledgment of the Lord involves the supreme 
love of Him ; and this again involves love toward 
the neighbor, which manifests itself in obedience to 
the laws of neighborly love — obedience to the divine 
precepts. From this it follows that the only doctrine 
absolutely essential to membership in the New Jeru- 
salem, is that of love to the Lord and the neighbor. 



THE ONE GREAT DOCTRINE. 121 

This is the sum and substance of all that is taught 
in the Word. Therefore the Lord says : " On these 
two commandments [which enjoin love to Him and 
the neighbor, and are in reality one] hang all the 
law and the prophets." Accordingly Swedenborg 
repeatedly assures us that this is the one essential 
doctrine to be believed and practiced — a doctrine 
everywhere taught in the spiritual sense of the 
Word, and without whose reception no one can 
really belong to the Lord's kingdom in heaven or 
on earth. To cite but two or three passages : 

"The whole of the Sacred Scripture is nothing' else than 
the doctrine of love or charity, which the Lord also teaches 
when He says : ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ; 
this is the first and great commandment. And the second 
is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On 
these two commandments hang all the law and the proph- 
ets.' Matt. xxii. 37-39. The law and the prophets are the 
Word in general and in particular." — N. J. D., n. 9. 

" The essential doctrine derived from the literal sense 
of the Word, is only one, viz. : the doctrine of charity 
and love — of charity toward our neighbor and of love to 
the Lord ; for this doctrine and a life according to it, is 
the whole Word, as the Lord teaches in Matthew xxii. 
35-38-" — A. C. 3445- 

And as this is the sum and substance of all that 
the Word teaches, so it is the central doctrine of the 
New Jerusalem, and the one to which all the others 
point as to a central and universal principle. 

"All the particulars of the doctrine of the New Jeru- 
salem have relation to these two things [love to the Lord 



122 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

and to the neighbor], because they are the universals on 
which all the particulars depend, and they are the essen- 
tials from which all its formalities proceed. They are, 
therefore, as the life and soul of all the particulars of its 
doctrine. . . . Love to the Lord consists in trusting in the 
Lord and doing his commandments ; and to do his com- 
mandments constitutes love toward the neighbor, because 
to do his commandments is to be useful to our neighbor. ' ' 
— A. R.,n. 903. 

WHO WORSHIP THE DIVINE HUMANITY? 

But is not the doctrine of the Divine Humanity, 
it is again asked, one of the essentials of the New- 
Church ? — or, " an acknowledgment of the Lord 
that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that his 
Humanity is Divine " ? And can one who is not in 
the reception and acknowledgment of this funda- 
mental, be really a member of the specific New 
Church ? No — certainly not. 

But here, again, we are liable to be led astray by 
mere profession. We are apt to think that all who 
profess to acknowledge and worship the Divine 
Humanity, really do so ; and that all who make no 
such profession, deny and reject this Humanity. 
But this is a great mistake. The worship of the 
heart may be, and often is, very different from that 
of the lips. A man may draw nigh unto God with 
his mouth, and honor Him with his lips, while his 
heart is far from Him. It is with the heart and not 
with the lips that the Divine Humanity is truly ac- 
knowledged and worshiped. "To act according to 



THE DIVINE HUMANITY. 12$ 

the precepts of the Lord," says Swedenborg, " is 
truly to worship Him." And " the real worship of 
the JLord consists in the performance of uses ; and 
uses consist in the faithful discharge of the duties of 
each one's vocation." 

It is possible, then, for a person to be in the real 
acknowledgment and worship of the Divine Human- 
ity, who makes no profession of this sort — who 
knows not, indeed, the meaning of the terms ; and 
it is equally possible, on the other hand, for one to 
be loud in his professions of love and worship, in 
whose heart there is no acknowledgment of the 
Divine Humanity. They who are internally evil, do 
not acknowledge this Humanity, whatever they may 
profess; while all who live the life of charity, are in 
the real though they may not be in the formal ac- 
knowledgment of this central doctrine of the New 
Jerusalem. Accordingly Swedenborg, discoursing 
of the Divine Humanity, says : 

" This is denied in heart by all who are in the life of 
evil, that is, by all those who despise others in comparison 
with themselves, who bear hatred toward those who do 
not pay them due respect," &c. " Hence it is evident," 
he continues, "that they who are in the life of evil can- 
not acknowledge the Lord, but form to themselves innu- 
merable contradictions against Him, inasmuch as they are 
receptive of an influx of fantasies from hell ; whereas they 
who are in the life of good, acknowledge the Lord [in his 
Divine Humanity — for it is of the Divine Humanity that 
he is here speaking] inasmuch as they are under the influx 
of heaven, the principle whereof is love or charity." — A. 
C. 2354. 



124 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

Here we are taught that those who are in the life 
of good do really acknowledge the Divine Human- 
ity, while they who are in the life of evil do not ac- 
knowledge it in reality, though they may do so with 
their lips. 

Again : 

"This principle also [the Lord's Divine Humanity] 
they extinguish in themselves, who contend in favor of 
faith alone, and do not live the life of faith. But they 
who live the life of faith, [as many do who prof ess faith 
alone], adore the Lord with bended knees and humble 
hearts as God the Saviour, thinking nothing at the time 
from doctrine concerning the distinction between the 
Divine and the Human nature ; in like manner in the 
Holy Supper. Hence it is evident that with these the 
Lord's Divine Humanity is in their hearts." (A. C. 4724.) 

We see, therefore, that persons who live the life 
of faith, though they may be in falsities of doctrine, 
and may know or think nothing about the Divine 
Humanity, are nevertheless in the real reception of 
that Humanity. They have within them the spirit 
and meaning — the real essence and life of the doc- 
trine. " The Divine Humanity is in their hearts." 

Again : All are now in the New Jerusalem, who 
are in the heavenly marriage. These constitute "the 
Bride the Lamb's wife." They are in love to the 
Lord, and so their hearts are wedded to Him. And 
Swedenborg says that this marriage union takes 
place with the simple in faith and heart before there 
is any open or formal acknowledgment of the Divine 
Humanity. 



THE LAMB'S WIFE. 1 25 

"Before the Lord's Humanity is acknowledged to be 
Divine [i. e. before it is openly or formally so acknowl- 
edged] there is indeed a marriage of the Lord with the 
church, but only among those who approach Him and 
think of his Divinity, and not at all whether his Human- 
ity be Divine or not ; this, the simple in faith and in heart 
do, but men of learning and erudition do so but seldom. ' ' 

And so we find that it is not with the lips, nor the 
understanding merely, that the doctrine of the Divine 
Humanity is believed or acknowledged. All who 
are internally good, do really believe this doctrine, 
though it may not be written in their creeds. And 
all who are internally evil, do really reject it in their 
hearts, however they may receive it intellectually, 
and acknowledge it with their lips. 



VIII. 

VARIETY IN THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

THE New Jerusalem, as we have seen, is not a 
sect, but the Lord's kingdom on earth. In 
Christian countries, it embraces all the inwardly- 
righteous — all who love the Lord and the neighbor 
— in every sect, and multitudes outside of all the 
sects. But precisely who these are, can be certainly 
known only to Him who sees the internals of men 
— to Him who alone looketh on the heart. Sects are 
visible organizations distinguished by some name or 
creed or outward sign — often by all of these ; and 
they embrace many evil as well as good people — 
tares as well as wheat — though they may all pro- 
fess the same doctrine, and wear a similar external 
appearance. 

DIVERSITY IN ALL THE WORKS OF GOD. 

But good people are not all alike. They all love 
the Lord and their neighbor ; but in the quality and 
intensity of their love, as well as in the degrees of 
their spiritual enlightenment, there is the same end- 
less variety that exists in tones, perfumes, warmth 
and colors. This is what we might reasonably ex- 
pect. For in all the works of God, diversity is a 

126 



DIVERSITY IN HE A VEN AND ON EAR TH. \2J 

prominent characteristic. It is stamped on all created 
things. We see it throughout the whole realm of 
nature ; in the heavens above and in the earth be- 
neath ; in stars and planets, in beasts and birds, in 
forests and fields, in mountains and clouds, in fishes 
and flowers. Why, then, should there not be a like 
diversity in the kingdom of the Lord — the church 
of the New Jerusalem ? Why should not variety in 
unity be as conspicuous here, as among the trees 
that adorn a landscape or the flowers that beautify a 
garden ? What endless diversity exists among the 
members and organs of the human body! What 
variety in form and function ! Why should there 
not be a like diversity among the followers of the 
Lord Jesus Christ? — diversity in doctrine and ritual 
as well as in the quality and degree of their good- 
ness? And, notwithstanding this diversity, why 
may they not all be united to their true and living 
Head? Why may they not be all intimately and 
lovingly bound to each other, like the various bodily 
organs that work together so harmoniously? 

DIVERSITY IN THE ANGELIC HE A VENS. 

We are told that this is actually the case in heav- 
en ; that perfect unity exists there, along with end- 
less variety; and that such was the case also with 
the church on earth in the days of its innocence and 
integrity. Swedenborg says : 

"In the Lord's kingdom [in heaven] the varieties as to 
goodness and truths are innumerable, notwithstanding they 



128 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

all constitute but one heaven ; for the varieties are so nu- 
merous, that one society is in no case altogether like 
another, that is, in the same good and truth. Oneness 
therein is constituted of several things that are various, 
so arranged by the Lord as to be in concord with each 
other, which concord or harmony of several things is im- 
pressed by the Lord in consequence of their all having 
relation to Him. The case herein is like that of the 
organs, members and viscera of the body, not one of 
which is altogether like another ; but they are all various, 
and yet make one." — A. C. 3241. 

And we meet with substantially the same state- 
ment more than a hundred times in the writings of 
the illustrious seer. And he tells us what is the 
great unifying principle in heaven ; or how it is, that, 
notwithstanding the wide diversity existing among 
the different angelic societies, they nevertheless are 
one; just as the different bodily organs are united 
and held together by the one influent life which 
pulsates through them all. Thus he says : 

" In heaven there are innumerable societies, and all va- 
rious ; but still they form one, for they are all under the 
Lord's guiding and government as one. In this respect 
heaven is like any single man, in whom, although there 
are so many viscera, and so many smaller viscera within 
the larger, so many organs and so many members, each 
of which has a different operation from the rest, yet all 
and each of them are governed as one by one soul ; or it 
is like the body in which are different activities of force 
and motion, while yet they are all ruled by one single 
motion of the heart and lungs, and make a Unit. The 
true ground and reason why all these component parts can 



S WE DENE OR G AND EA UL A GREE. 1 29 

thus act as one, is, that in heaven there is one single in- 
flux which is received by every one according to his par- 
ticular genius or temper, and which is an influx of affec- 
tions from the Lord or from his mercy and life ; and al- 
though the influx is one and single, yet all things obey 
and follow it as if they were one ; which is a consequence 
of that mutual love in which they who are in heaven are 
principled. Thus was it in the first ancient church where- 
in, notwithstanding there were so many kinds of worship 
both internal and external .... still they had all one 
lip, and their words were one ; that is, they were all, both 
in general and in particular, principled in one doctrine. 
The doctrine is one, when all are principled in mutual 
love and charity. Mutual love and charity are productive 
of unity or oneness even among varieties, uniting these 
into one; for let numbers be multiplied ever so many 
times, even to thousands and tens of thousands, if they 
are all principled in charity or mutual love, they all have 
one end, viz. the common good, the kingdom of the Lord, 
and the Lord himself; in which case the varieties in mat- 
ters of doctrine and worship are like the varieties of the 
senses and viscera in man, as just observed, which con- 
tribute to the perfection of the whole. For then the 
Lord, by means of charity, enters into and operates upon 
all, with a difference of manner according to the particular 
temper of each, and thus arranges all and every one into 
order, as in heaven so on earth ; and thus the will of the 
Lord is done on earth as it is in heaven according to what 
He himself teaches." — A. C. 1285. 

SWEDENBORG AND PAUL AGREE. 

A more admirable illustration of variety in unity 
than is here given, cannot be conceived of. For 

I 



130 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

what is more various in form and function, than the 
different members, organs and viscera of the human 
body? Yet how intimate and complete their union, 
and with what perfect harmony do they work to- 
gether, each rejoicing or suffering with all the rest! 
And this illustrates the great apostle's idea of the 
church. "For as we have many members," he says, 
" in one body, and all members have not the same 
office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, 
and every one members one of another." And 
again, to the Corinthian brethren : " For as the body 
is one, and hath many members, and all the members 
of that one body, being many, are one body; so also 
is Christ [or the Christian body]" (xii. 12.) And he 
says : " That there should be no schism in the body, 
but that the members should have the same care one 
of another. And whether one member suffer, all 
the members suffer with it ; or one member be hon- 
ored, all the members rejoice with it." And imme- 
diately he adds : " Now ye are the body of Christ, 
and members in particular," (v. 26, 27.) And Swe- 
denborg's entire doctrine of the " Grand Man," is but 
an amplification of this idea of Paul. 

Now if there be such endless variety in heaven, 
there certainly ought to be a corresponding variety 
in the church which John beheld in vision coming 
down from God out of heaven. And if mutual love 
or charity was productive of unity in the most 
ancient church, however the members of that church 
differed in doctrine and ritual, then we should expect 
along with much diversity in these latter, an internal 



THE SE VEN CHURCHES. 1 3 1 

or heart union among those belonging to the church 
symbolized by " pure gold " — the church of the 
New Jerusalem. 



ILLUSTRATED BY THE CHURCHES IN ASIA. 

Accordingly, in his explanation of Rev. i. 20, Swe- 
denborg says : 

" 'And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the 
seven churches/ means the New Church upon earth, which 
is the New Jerusalem descending from the Lord out of the 
new heaven. The candlesticks are the churchy and as 
seven means all, the seven candlesticks do not mean seven 
churches, but the church in the aggregate, which in itself 
is one, but various according to reception. These varie- 
ties may be compared to the various jewels in a king's 
crown ; also to the various members and organs in a per- 
fect body, which nevertheless make one. The perfection 
of every form consists in different things being suitably 
disposed in their order. Hence it is that the entire New 
Church as to its various particulars is described in what 
follows by the seven churches." — A. R. 66. 

And in these seven churches which, together, 
represent "the entire New Church," we find the 
various forms of religious error which have prevailed 
in Christendom, yet along with these errors, some- 
thing of the life of genuine charity. And although 
the errors themselves belong not to the New Jeru- 
salem, the people who hold them do, provided they 
at heart acknowledge the Lord and live the life of 
charity. Internally these persons reject the errors 



132 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

which, externally, they accept ; for the errors are not 
in agreement with the good of love in their hearts. 

Thus there are those "who primarily respect 
truths of doctrine and not the good of life " — sig- 
nified by the church of Ephesus. Yet among these 
are found some good people, who "cannot bear that 
evil shall be called good, nor the reverse." 

There are some " who are in falsities as to doc- 
trine, but in good as to life" — signified by the church 
in Smyrna (A. R. 91); for they are, it is said, 
" in the spiritual affection of truth ; and they who 
are in tfre spiritual affection of truth, are also in the 
life of charity, for thence comes their spiritual affec- 
tion. . . . They study the Word, and desire nothing 
more than that they may understand it." — Ap. Ex. 
112. 

There are some, also, " who place all of the church 
in good works, and nothing of it in truths of doc- 
trine " — signified by the church in Pergamos. Yet 
among these are persons who " have religion, and 
worship according to it, and also acknowledge the 
Word to be divine truth." 

There are some " who are in faith separate from 
charity, and thence in evil works." But among 
them are they who " know a few things concerning 
charity, and thence concerning faith from the Word," 
which they are exhorted to " hold fast" by a life ac- 
cording to them. And although "they are in some 
spiritual affection of truth," they nevertheless "suffer 
themselves to be seduced by those who are in false 
doctrine ;" but persons so seduced, "have not closed 



DIVERSITY IN THE NE W JER USAIEM. 1 3 3 

their internal or spiritual man, for they have not 
themselves falsified truths, but have given credit to 
those who have done so, because their falsities ap- 
peared like truths." — Ap. Ex. 163, '4. 

There are some "who are in dead worship, or 
worship that is destitute of the good of charity and 
the truths of faith " — signified by the church of 
Sardis. This is their general character. But here 
again there are exceptions ; for " among these also 
are some who have life in their worship, .... and 
who have not defiled worship by evils of life and 
falsities thence derived,'' (A. R. 165, '6.) These are 
signified by the " few names even in Sardis, which 
have not defiled their garments," and concerning 
whom the Lord says : " They shall walk with me in 
white, for they are worthy." 

The church in Philadelphia denotes such as are 
"in truths originating in good from the Lord," of 
whom it is not necessary to say more ; for no one 
doubts that these belong to the New Jerusalem. 

And there are some " who are in faith alone, that 
is, faith separate from charity" — signified by the 
church of the Laodiceans, (Ap. Ex. 227.) This, 
again, Is the general character of the persons whom 
this church represented ; or rather, this is the doc- 
trine professed by them. But in his explanation of the 
things addressed to this church, Swedenborg says : 

"The greater part of those who are born within the 
churches where the doctrine of faith alone and justifica- 
tion thereby, is received .... believe that faith alone 
is to think concerning God and salvation, and how they 
12 



134 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

ought to live; and that justification is to live before God ;" 
and " that there are very few who thus live from doctrine." 
— Ap. Ex. 233. 

It thus appears that, in these seven Asiatic churches, 
which represent, we are told, the entire New Jerusa- 
lem in all its variety, are people in every possible 
state as to good and truth, from the highest who are 
"in truths grounded in good from the Lord," and 
who acknowledge " that they have no power of their 
own against evils and falsities," down to the lowest 
signified by the church in Laodicea, who believe in 
salvation by faith alone, but the greater part of whom, 
it is said, "do not know what faith alone is," but 
think it requires them to live a good life. 

This shows how inclusive and universal the church 
of the New Jerusalem is, and how various the states 
of those who belong to it. And it is especially 
worthy of notice, that, among these seven churches, 
nearly all of which are described as being in certain 
doctrinal errors, are some who are in the acknowl- 
edgment of the Lord, and whose hearts are imbued 
with charity. These all belong to the New Church. 
For Swedenborg says: "The entire New Church, as 
to its various particulars, is described by these seven 
churches." 

EXTERNALS AND INTERNALS OF THE NEW JERUSA- 
LEM. 

Yes : Variety is the truly divine order. Consider 
how various are the states of good people here on 
earth — of those even who have subscribed the same 



THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CHURCH. I 35 

creed and belong to the same ecclesiastical organic 
zation. Out of a hundred good people in any re- 
ligious society, what a difference do we observe in 
the quality and degree of their goodness. And 
every degree of good and truth in the men of our 
times, comes down from the Lord out of the new 
angelic heaven; and is therefore New Church good 
and truth. Some receive it more interiorly and in a 
purer form than others. The former, therefore, con- 
stitute the interior, and the latter the exterior, of the 
New Church; as the heart and lungs together with 
the brain, constitute the internals, and the bones and 
muscles the externals, of the human body. Ac- 
cordingly, in his spiritual exposition of Rev. vii. 4, 
Swedenborg says : 

"'And I heard the number of them that were 
sealed, — a hundred forty and four thousand sealed 
out of all the tribes of the children of Israel/ means 
all who acknowledge the Lord to be the God of 
heaven and earth, and are in truths of doctrine from 
the good of love derived from Him through the 
Word;" and these he says, "all belong to the new 
Christian Heaven and the New Church/' — A. R. 
348. And in n. 363 of the same work, he says: 
"The twelve tribes of Israel mean those who con- 
stitute the Lord's internal church," who are relatively 
but a small portion (though a vital portion) of the 
whole New Church. And who constitute the other 
and by far the larger portion of this church — its 
external? That "great multitude which no man 
could number," and which John beheld in vision 



I36 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

after he heard the number that were sealed out of 
the twelve tribes. To quote Swedenborg's expla- 
nation of that great multitude : 

"' After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which 
no man could number/ means all the rest who are not 
among the above recited [i. e. the twelve thousand from 
each tribe], and yet are in the Lord 's New Heaven and 
New Church, being those who compose the ultimate 
heaven and the external church, whose character no one 
knows but the Lord alone" 

That this "great multitude" consisted of persons 
among whom there was great diversity of character, 
who nevertheless all belonged to the New Heaven 
and the New Church, is obvious from its being said 
that they were " of all nations and tribes and people 
and tongues," and that they " stood before the throne 
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
palms in their hands." To quote still further from 
Swedenborg : 

"But who they are in particular, who are meant by 
those called a great multitude, cannot be known without 
first disclosing an arcanum, which is this : The entire 
heaven, together with the church on earth, is, in the sight 
of the Lord, as one man. And because it is as one man, 
there are some who constitute the head, and consequently 
the face with all its organs of the senses ; and some who 
constitute the body with all its members. Those above 
enumerated [of the twelve tribes] constitute the face with 
all its organs of the senses: but those now mentioned 
[i. e. the great multitude], are they who constitute the 
body with all its members. That this is so, has been 
revealed to me ; and likewise that they who constitute 



THE GREAT MULTITUDE. 1 37 

the first class of the tribes (verse 5), are those who cor- 
respond to the forehead down to the eyes ; that they who 
are of the second class (verse 6), are those who correspond 
to the eyes, together with the nostrils; the third class 
(verse 7), are those who correspond to the ears and cheeks ; 
and the fourth class (verse 8), are those who correspond to 
the mouth and tongue. 

"The Lord's church is also internal and external. 
They who are meant by the twelve tribes of Israel are 
such as constitute his internal church ; but they who are 
now mentioned [i. e. the great multitude], are such as con- 
stitute the external church, and cohere as one with the 
above enumerated, as inferior things with superior, or as 
the body with the head. Therefore the twelve tribes of 
Israel signify the superior heavens, and also the internal 
church ; but these [the great multitude] signify the inferior 
heavens and the external church." — A. R. 363. 

The good people in Christendom, then, referred 
to by the "great multitude" that John saw clad in 
white having palms in their hands, are not those 
"who acknowledge the Lord to be the God of 
heaven and earth, and are in truths of doctrine from 
the good of love derived from Him through the 
Word;" for those are meant by the twelve thousand 
sealed out of each tribe. Yet these " are in the 
Lord's New Church " in its specific sense, and con- 
stitute its external — much the largest part of it, rela- 
tively. And not only are those who belong to the 
external, a constituent portion of the church, but 
they are just as important — just as essential to the 
church's integrity — as those composing its internal. 



I38 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

Each is indispensable to the existence and welfare 
of the whole. Neither class without the other would 
be a church, any more than a man's head without his 
body would be a man, or his body without its head. 
For they, it is said, "who constitute the external 
church, cohere as one with the above enumerated 
[who constitute the internal] as inferior things with 
superior, or as the body with the head." And Swe- 
denborg again tells us, that " a church, in order that 
it may be a church, must be both internal and ex- 
ternal ; " and that " they who are in the internal of 
the church are few, but they who are in its external 
are numerous." — A. C. 6587. 

CAN THE NEW JERUSALEM BE ORGANIZED. 

Now if "no one but the Lord alone" knows who 
they are who constitute the most external portion of 
the New Church, much less, then, can any one else 
know who constitute its internal. And how is it 
possible for people whose real character is seen and 
known only of the Lord, to be so distinguished by 
men — so separated from all others and arranged into 
societies apart by themselves, as to constitute a dis- 
tinct and visible organization? Such an achieve- 
ment is beyond the power of finite minds. If human 
sagacity were equal to this, then might we separate 
the wheat from the tares before the time of harvest. 
Then might a universal church or a great spiritual 
man be organized here on earth, by the wit or wisdom 



NOT A VISIBLE ORGANIZATION. 1 39 

of mortals.* And it might be known, too, not only 
who compose the head and who the body of this 
Universal or Grand Man, but who belong to each 
particular organ. But this, we know, is the exclusive 
prerogative of Him who alone can discern the in- 

* Something not unlike this seems to be contemplated by the ad- 
vocates of the New Jerusalem as a visible body. A member of the 
General Convention of the New Church in the United States, in a 
communication published in the organ of that body (the N. J. Mes- 
senger) a few years ago (Nov. 3d, 1855), and headed, " A Disem- 
bodied and an Organic Church," says: "The next largest form 
is a society of men. But in order to constitute such a society there 
'must be all the organic human form, only on a larger scale. The 
mere aggregation of a number of individuals does not constitute a 
society, but its orderly arrangement into organic form, or the making 
of a larger man. In this society there must be a head to direct, 
hands to execute, eyes to see, and feet to enable it to walk, and all 
its parts must act in sympathy and unity. But in the extension of 
uses, the principles of the church must be received into a yet more 
extended form, or into that of a larger man than a society could 
make; this may be either an Association, a Convention, or a Con- 
ference, by whichever name it may be called." Then, after some 
remarks upon the uses of this larger " external and organic form," 
which, he thinks, should be regarded as " the mother that we are 
commanded to honor," this writer adds : 

"And whenever all who receive these heavenly doctrines, who 
may be ' spread over all the world,' by a united and harmonious act, 
'form to themselves an organic representative fount of action, we shall 
have not alone a 'general/ but a universal, or catholic convention." 

And thus, according to this writer, the New Jerusalem on earth, 
consisting only of those "who receive these heavenly doctrines," who 
may be "spread over all the world," is to exist in an organic and 
visible form not unlike the Roman Catholic Church — " a universal or 
catholic convention" — or a grand man, with head, trunk, extremi- 
ties, and all its organs, fashioned and adjusted by the wisdom of ec- 
clesiastical councils ! The presumption involved in such a thought, 
is not less extraordinary than the thought itself. 



140 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

most quality of men, — of Him whose all-seeing eye 
looketh on the heart. " The whole heaven, together 
with the church on earth, is, in the sight of the Lord, 
as one man," but not in the sight of men, or even of 
angels. Swedenborg says : 

"The angels, indeed, do not see heaven in the whole 
complex in the form of a man, for the whole heaven does 
not fall under the view of any angel ; but they do some- 
times see remote societies consisting of many thousands 
of angels, as one in such a form ; and from a society as 
from a part, they form a conclusion concerning the whole, 
which is heaven." — R. H. 62. 

If, then, no man is able to number that " great 
multitude," but only the Lord — if He alone can 
discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, and 
can know therefore who really belong to his king- 
dom or church on earth, the conclusion is irresistible 
that the true church cannot be organized by men. It 
cannot exist as a distinct and visible body known or 
designated by a particular name. But wheresoever 
in human hearts the spirit of the Divine Master 
dwells — the spirit of meekness, humility, self-denial, 
self-sacrifice, forbearance, resignation, trust, and dis- 
interested neighborly love, there is something of the 
Lord's true church, be the name or outward fellow- 
ship of those who possess this spirit, what it may. 
But " if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his" — belongs not to his family or house- 
hold — forms no part of his church, whatever be his 
name, his creed, his profession, his doctrinal beliefs, 
or his external church relations. 



IX. 

CATHOLICITY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

THE spirit and inculcations of any church, reveal 
its catholicity — or the absence of it. And the 
spirit of the New Jerusalem is eminently large, lov- 
ing, tolerant and free. How can it be otherwise 
since love is its chief constituent — its central idea? 
It is the very opposite of the spirit of sect; for this 
is the spirit of party, the spirit that divides, the spirit 
that rears walls of partition, and is indifferent if not 
hostile toward all who have not subscribed the creed 
nor assumed the party name or badge. A sect, says 
a standard authority, is "a body of persons who 
have separated from others in virtue of some special 
doctrine or set of doctrines which they hold in com- 
mon." All religious bodies, therefore, that exist as 
separate organizations in virtue of the special doctrines 
set forth in their creeds, are sects. Not one of them 
can claim to be the Lord's church, though some 
portion of the church may belong to each ; for his 
true church is not a sect, and can never exist as an 
organized and visible body here on earth. 

The spirit of the New Jerusalem is the spirit of 
the Divine Word. And this spirit is larger than 
that of any sect. It is inclusive and all embracing 

141 



142 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

as the Lord's pure love. It reveals itself in passages 
like these : " By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one to another." " On 
these two commandments [which require love to the 
Lord and the neighbor] hang all the law and the 
prophets." "If any man will come after me, let him 
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." 
" Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that 
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." 
" Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
which I say ? " " Jesus said, My mother and my 
brethren are these who hear the Word of God, and 
do it." " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven." "Except a man be born 
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God." And Paul says : " Love is the 
fulfilling of the law." And " if any man have not 
the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." And " the 
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 
The New Testament abounds in passages like 
these. And they reveal the spirit of the Divine 
Word — the very essence of the Christian religion. 
They show us that this religion is something more 
than a belief ; — that it is a divine spirit dwelling in 
the heart, sanctifying the affections, purifying the 
motives, exalting the aims, sweetening the temper, 
refining the feelings, and pervading the whole life 
with its heavenly aroma. Wherever there is disin- 
terested neighborly love — the spirit of self-denial — 



PAST TEACHING OF THE CHURCH. 1 43 

the spirit of gentleness, rectitude, humility, forbear- 
ance, long-suffering, resignation, trust — there is some- 
thing of the true church, for there is the Master's 
own spirit ; and all who have his spirit, belong to 
his kingdom or church. They may differ intellec- 
tually — in their doctrinal beliefs; but their ends 
are the same — their hearts agree. And mere intel- 
lectual differences cannot prevent them from enjoying 
the fellowship of the spirit. Such is the undeniable 
teaching of the New Testament. 

THE PAST TEACHING OF THE CHURCH. 

But such has not been the teaching of the professed 
followers of Christ hitherto. Christians have made 
belief primary, life secondary. Seating religion in 
the head rather than in the heart, the sects have all 
been more eager to win people's assent to certain 
dogmas, than to secure their obedience to the com- 
mandments or to imbue their hearts with heavenly 
charity. They have assailed the most flagrant im- 
moralities less fiercely than opinions deemed heter- 
odox. They have vainly imagined that a true belief 
could be established, or a false one rooted out, by 
penalties inflicted or threatened by ecclesiastical 
courts. And that fierce war of opinion which com- 
menced in the third century, and raged with such 
relentless fury at the Council of Nice, has been going 
on ever since — with occasional intermissions, it is 
true, and its rancor at times somewhat abated. But 
until the present century no considerable portion of 



144 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

Christendom ever abandoned the principle, that it is 
right to attempt, by pains and penalties, to enforce 
uniformity of religious belief. Persecution for opin- 
ion's sake has been practiced alike by Protestants 
and Catholics. Both have excommunicated and 
anathematized some of their best members, for alleged 
errors of opinion. Both have practically inculcated 
the doctrine, that error is sin, and persistence therein 
certain perdition. And though the venom once dis- 
played toward alleged heresies has considerably 
abated, we sometimes hear, even in this latter end 
of the nineteenth century, of ecclesiastical bodies 
excommunicating individuals for alleged unsound- 
ness in doctrine. 



DIFFERENT BELIEFS INE VITABLE. 

The beliefs of men depend very much on circum- 
stances over which they have no control. When we 
consider this, and consider moreover how different 
are the circumstances which contribute to form or 
modify their beliefs, we shall see that perfect agree- 
ment in religious doctrines is not to be expected. 
We shall see that, if people are encouraged to think 
freely and examine fearlessly, diversity of opinion 
on many points will be the inevitable result. For 
men are differently endowed at the start; so that 
their views of religious truth would differ, even were 
they all subjected to the same mental and moral 
training. But then they are not all trained alike. 
They are very differently educated. From the cradle 



DIFFERENT BELIEFS INEVITABLE. 1 45 

they are surrounded by different social, moral and 
religious influences. They receive different kinds 
and degrees of religious instruction. They attend 
different churches, hear different kinds of preaching, 
read different books, and are taught different reli- 
gious doctrines — all of them receiving some support, 
however, from certain passages of Scripture under- 
stood in their literal sense. 

Now, assuming that all are honest, and alike sin- 
cere in their desire to know the truth, is it presuma- 
ble that they would or could cordially agree in their 
doctrinal beliefs ? In view of the admitted influence of 
education, and the wide difference known to exist in 
intellectual and moral training as well as hereditary 
endowments, how is it possible that they should all 
believe precisely alike? How could we expect them 
all to understand the Bible alike? Yet there are 
many things in the Bible — and these, too, the most 
essential things — about which there is no room for 
an honest difference of opinion. They are passages 
which exhibit the spirit of the Word naked, as it 
were — in a form accommodated to all eyes.* Such, 
for example, are the ten commandments, and all 
those plain Gospel precepts which inculcate the im- 
portance of self-denial, purity of heart, doing good to 
others, and cherishing a resigned, forbearing, loving, 

* Swedenborg says: "The Word in its literal sense is like a 
man clothed, whose face and hands are naked. All things neces- 
sary to the life and therefore to the salvation of man, are naked; 
but the rest are clothed. And in many places where they are 
clothed, they shine through the clothing as the face shines through a 
veil of thin silk." — Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, n. 55. 
13 K 



I46 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

trustful spirit. A hundred persons may differ widely 
on many doctrinal points, while they may all agree 
on the essential importance of charity or a good life, 
so clearly is this latter taught in the Bible. And if 
these persons were imbued with the spirit of charity, 
they would not permit their intellectual or doctrinal 
differences to separate them. 

And do we not find this to be actually the case ? 
Are not candid people everywhere constrained to 
acknowledge that some good, upright, charitable, 
Christian men and women are to be found in all 
communions ? Faithful followers of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who have drunk of his spirit and delight to 
do his will ? However they may differ doctrinally, 
their hearts agree. The great purpose of their lives 
is identically the same. They are one in the spirit 
and temper of their minds ; one in their adoration 
and love of the supremely Good and True ; and 
all, therefore, belong to the true church or kingdom 
of the Lord. 

Such are the catholic spirit and teachings of the 
New Jerusalem. Love of the Lord and the neighbor 
being its central doctrine, it cannot be otherwise than 
universal and catholic. Its foundations are exceeding 
broad. Within its extended walls are included per- 
sons of every name and creed, " who live well ac- 
cording to the dogmas of their religion." Itself 
teaching the highest truths, and having no sympathy 
with falsity of any kind, it is nevertheless tolerant 
toward all forms of religious error, and cordially 
welcomes to its bosom all, of whatever name or 



ILL USTRA TIONS OF CA THOLICITY. 1 47 

creed, whose hearts pulsate with love to the Lord and 
the neighbor. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF CATHOLICITY. 

In confirmation of what is here said, I will cite a 
few of the many passages that occur in Swedenborg, 
disclosing the large and catholic spirit of the New 
Jerusalem ; — for throughout this treatise I accept 
him as the divinely authorized herald and exponent 
of this church. 

"When love to the Lord and charity toward the neigh- 
bor, that is, the good of life, are regarded as the essentials, 
then, however many churches there be, they make one. 
This also is the case in heaven, where there are innumera- 
ble societies, all distinct from each other, but still consti- 
tuting one heaven because all are principled in love to the 
Lord and charity toward the neighbor. But the case is 
otherwise with churches that make faith [or belief] the 
essential thing — imagining that if people know or think 
such and such things they will be saved, be their life what 
it may. Then several churches do not make one, nor in- 
deed are they churches." 

"No one is admitted into the Lord's kingdom, unless 
he is principled in the good of faith ; for the good of faith 
belongs to the life, and the life of faith remains, but not 
the doctrine of faith except so far as it makes one with the 
life. Still, however, they who are principled in the truth 
of faith, that is, who profess faith [alone] and call it the 
essential thing because they have been so taught, and 
nevertheless are principled in the good of life, that is, are 
Christians at heart and not in profession merely, are in 



I48 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

the Lord's spiritual kingdom. For any one may easily be 
persuaded that faith is the essential when he has been so 
instructed by his teachers, and has imbibed this opinion 
from his early years, and because they who enjoy the 
highest reputation for learning and are called the heads 
of the church, think so — some of whom are afraid to 
speak of the good of life because their life condemns 
them." — A. C. 3242. 

" Doctrines alone do not serve to distinguish churches 
in the sight of the Lord, but a life according to doctrines, 
all of which, if true, regard charity as fundamental. For 
what is the end and purpose of doctrines but to teach how 
a man should live ? The several churches in the Christian 
world are distinguished by their doctrines ; and the mem- 
bers of these churches have therefore taken the names of 
Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, or the Reformed 
and Evangelical Protestants ; with many others. This 
distinction of names arises solely from doctrines, and 
would never have existed if the members of the church 
had made love to the Lord and charity toward the neigh- 
bor the principal point of faith. Doctrines would then 
have been only varieties of opinion concerning the mys- 
teries of faith, which true Christians would leave to every 
one to receive according to his conscience ; while the lan- 
guage of their hearts would be, He is a true Christian who 
lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Then 
one church would be formed out of all these diverse ones ; 
and all disagreements arising from mere doctrines would 
vanish; yea, all the animosities of one against another 
would be speedily dissipated, and the Lord's kingdom 
[the New Jerusalem] would be established on earth." — A. 
C. 1799- 

" Faith at the present day is separated from charity; 



FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 49 

which is evident from the fact, that churches separate from 
each other according to dogmas ; and he 'who believes 
otherwise than the dogma teaches, is cast out from their 
communion, and likewise defamed. But one who is guilty 
of theft, who deprives others of their goods without mercy 
(if he does not do it openly), who contrives treacherous 
schemes against his neighbor, who brings disgrace upon 
works of charity and is guilty of adultery — such an one 
is still called a Christian if he only attends sacred wor- 
ship and speaks conformably to doctrine. Hence it is 
evident that doctrine is what makes the church at this day, 
and not life" — Ibid. 4689. 

"Let this truth be received as a principle, that love to 
the Lord and charity toward our neighbor are the essen- 
tials on which hangs all the law, and concerning which all 
the prophets speak, and therefore that they are the essen- 
tials of all doctrine and of all worship, in this case the 
mind would be enlightened by innumerable things con- 
tained in the Word, which otherwise lie concealed in the 
obscurity of a false principle ; yea, in this case all heresies 
would vanish and be done away, and out of many there 
would be formed one church, however differing as to doc- 
trines and rituals, either flowing from the above essentials, 
or leading thereto. . . . Then all would be governed as 
one man by the Lord; for all would be as members and 
organs of one body, which, although they are not of 
similar form or functions, have nevertheless relation to one 
heart on which they all depend both in general and in 
particular, be their respective forms ever so various; in 
this case, too, every one would say of another, in what- 
ever doctrine or in whatever external worship he was prin- 
cipled, This is my brother; I see that he worships the 
Lord, and that he is a good man." — A. C. 2385. 



I50 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

"With the Lord's spiritual church the case is this: It 
is dispersed over the whole globe, and is everywhere various 
according to articles of belief or truths of faith. The 
Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens is also thus cir- 
cumstanced, viz. : It is various according to what apper- 
tains to faith, insomuch that there is not one society nor 
even one in a society, who, in those things which relate 
to the truth of faith, altogether agrees with others. 
Nevertheless the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens 
is one ; the reason is, that all account charity as principal ; 
for charity constitutes the spiritual church, and not faith, 
unless you say that faith is charity. Whoever is principled 
in charity, loves his neighbor; and with regard to his dis- 
senting from him in matters of belief, this he excuses, pro- 
vided only that he lives in goodness and truth. He does 
not even condemn the well-disposed Gentiles, although they 
are ignorant of the Lord and know not any truth of faith ; 
for he who lives in charity, that is, in good, receives such 
truths from the Lord as agree with his good ; and good 
Gentiles receive such truths as in another life may be 
bended to truths of faith. But he who is not principled 
in charity, that is, who does not live in good, can in no 
wise receive any truth; he may indeed know what is true, 
but it is not implanted in his life : thus he may have it in- 
deed in his mouth, but not in his heart ; for truth cannot 
be conjoined with evil. Therefore they who know truths 
which are called articles of belief, and do not live in 
charity, or in good, although they are in the church, as 
being born there, still are not of the church, inasmuch as 
they have nothing of the church in them, that is, nothing 
of good, to which truth maybe conjoined." — A. C. 3267. 

"All are saved who are in the good of life according 
to the dogmas of their religion, which they believed to be 






THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 151 

truths although they were not ; for what is false is not im- 
puted to any one who lives well according to the dogmas 
of his religion, since it is not the fault of such an one if 
he does not know truths. For the good of life according 
to one's religion contains within it the affection of know- 
ing truths which such persons also learn and receive when 
they come into the other life ; for every affection remains 
with man after death, and especially the affection of know- 
ing truths, because this is a spiritual affection" — Ibid. 455. 

" The members of the primitive Christian church lived 
together as brethren, and also called each other brethren, 
and mutually loved each other. But in process of time 
charity diminished, and at length vanished away. And as 
charity departed, evil succeeded, and falsities also insinu- 
ated themselves with evils, whence arose schisms and 
heresies. These would never have existed if charity had 
continued to live and rule ; for then they would not have 
called schism by the name of schism, nor heresy by the 
name of heresy ; but they would have called them doc- 
trines agreeable to each person's own opinion or way of 
thinking, which they would have left to every one's con- 
science, not judging or condemning any for their opin- 
ions, provided they did not deny fundamental principles 
— that is, the Lord, eternal life, and the Word — and 
maintained nothing contrary to divine order, that is, con- 
trary to the commandments of the Decalogue." — Ibid. 
1834. 

Such and so catholic are the spirit and teachings 
of the New Jerusalem. It includes within its ample 
pale, all of every name and creed, who truly love the 
Lord and the neighbor. Its teachings are replete 
with the spirit of the Master — full of the broadest 



152 THE G OLDEN CITY. 

and noblest charity — full of the Lord's unselfish 
love. At every turn we see the glitter of the precious 
metal. Verily, w the street of the city is pure gold, 
as it were transparent glass." 

WIDER THAN CHRISTENDOM. 

And still stronger evidence of the catholicity of 
the New Jerusalem, may be seen in the fact that it 
includes not only all the good people in Christen- 
dom, but the good among Mahometans and Pagans 
also — those who never heard of Christ or Christi- 
anity. For, to suppose that the Lord has left these 
people, or any whom He has created, without a me- 
dium of salvation, is a cruel thought, and one wholly 
incompatible with a belief in the Divine justice and 
benevolence. Yet such has been the prevailing 
belief among Christians. And this belief follows 
legitimately from the old doctrine of salvation by faith 
alone. But how far such belief is from the catholic 
teachings of the New Jerusalem, may be seen from 
passages like the following : 

" The mercy of the Lord is infinite, and does not suffer 
itself to be confined to the small number within the 
[Christian] church, but extends itself to all throughout 
the world. For they who are born outside of this church 
and are therefore in ignorance respecting matters of faith, 
are not to be blamed on that account ; nor are they ever 
condemned for not having faith in the Lord, because they 
are not aware of his existence. What considerate person 
can suppose that the greatest portion of mankind must 
perish eternally because they were not born in that quarter 



INCL UDES THE GOOD IN HE A THE AD OM. 1 5 3 

of the globe called Europe, which contains so few com- 
paratively? Or that the Lord would permit so great a 
multitude of human beings to be brought into existence, 
that they may perish in eternal death? This would be 
contrary alike to the Divine nature and mercy. . . . 

" Many in the other world, who come from parts of 
the globe outside of Christendom, and who have been 
worshipers of idols, have the utmost horror of hatred and 
adultery, and are afraid of Christians who indulge in these 
vices and make no scruple of torturing their fellow crea- 
tures. Yea, these Gentiles are such that, when instructed 
by the angels respecting the truths of faith, and informed 
that the Lord rules the universe, they listen attentively, 
become imbued with faith, and consequently reject their 
idols. Therefore those among them who have lived mo- 
rally, being in mutual charity and innocence, are regen- 
erated in the other life. During their abode in the world 
the Lord had been present with them in charity and in- 
nocence, both of which proceed wholly from Him. He 
had also endowed them with a conscience of what is right 
and good according to their religious principles, and into 
that had insinuated innocence and charity; and when 
these are present in the conscience, persons easily become 
principled in the truth and faith grounded in good." — 
A. C. 1032. 

" It is a common opinion that they who are born out 
of the church and are called heathen and Gentiles, cannot 
be saved because they have not the Word, and therefore 
are ignorant of the Lord without whom there is no salva- 
tion. Nevertheless it is certain that they also may be 
saved, because the Lord's mercy is universal and extends 
to every individual ; for they are born men as well as those 
within the church who are comparatively few ; and it is no 



154 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

fault of theirs that they are ignorant of the Lord. Every- 
one who thinks from any measure of enlightened reason, 
may see that no man is born for hell, because the Lord is 
love itself, and his love desires to save all. Therefore also 
he has provided that all shall have some kind of religion, 
and hence acknowledge a Divine Being and possess inte- 
rior life. 

" That Gentiles are saved as well as Christians, may be 
known to those who understand what makes heaven in 
man. For heaven is in man ; and they who have heaven 
in themselves, go to heaven after death. It is heaven in 
man to acknowledge a Divine Being and to be led by 
Him. The primary and chief essential of all religion, is 
the acknowledgment of a Divine Being ; for there can be 
no religion without this acknowledgment. The precepts 
of every religion have respect to worship ; for they teach 
how the Divine Being is to be so worshiped as to render 
man acceptable to Him; and in proportion as these sink 
into the mind, and man wills and loves them; he is led of 
the Lord. It is well known that Gentiles live a moral life 
as well as Christians ; and ... he who lives a moral life 
from a regard to the Divine Being, is led of the Divine. 

"Although Gentiles are not in genuine truths during 
their life in the world, they receive them in the other 
life from a principle of love. The Africans are most be- 
loved in heaven of all the Gentiles, for they receive the 
goods and truths of heaven more easily than others. ' ' — 
H. H. 318, '19, '26. 

"Life constitutes the church; but not doctrine, except 
so far as it be of the life. Hence it is evident that the 
Lord's church is not here nor there, but that it is every- 
where, not only within those kingdoms where the church 
[that is in possession of the Word] is, but out of them, 



THE L ORB'S KINGD OM ON EAR TH 1 5 5 

where the life is formed according to the precepts of 
charity. Hence it is that the Lord's church is spread 
throughout the whole world, and yet is one ; for when 
life constitutes the church, and not doctrine separate from 
life, then the church is one ; but where doctrine constitutes 
the church, then there are several " — a multitude of sects. 
— A. C. 8152. 

"The Lord's church is dispersed throughout the whole 
world. But his church on earth is like the Grand Man in 
heaven, whose heart and lungs are where the Word is ; 
and the rest of the members and viscera [the Gentiles] 
which live from the heart and lung's, are where the Word 
is not." — Ibid. 9256. 

" The societies scattered throughout the whole world, 
consisting of those who are in love to the Lord and 
charity toward the neighbor, are collected by the Lord 
that they too may represent one man as do the societies in 
heaven. These societies are not only within the church 
[where the Word is], but also out of it, and taken together 
are called the Lord's church scattered, and collected from 
the good in the whole world, which is also called a com- 
munion. This communion or church is the Lord's king- 
dom on earth conjoined to His kingdom in the heavens, 
and thus to the Lord himself." — Ibid. 7396. 

So broad and catholic and inclusive is the New 
Jerusalem. So far-reaching and all-embracing is 
genuine love. And love is the chief constituent of 
the Golden City. Love enters into every portion of 
it and makes it precious, and constitutes its chief 
glory. As it is written : " And the city was pure 
gold like unto clear glass." 



15^ THE GOLDEN CITY. 

ITS FREEDOM EQUAL TO ITS CATHOLICITY. 

And the New Jerusalem is as free as it is catholic. 
It encourages the largest liberty of thought, the ut- 
most freedom of religious inquiry. It would have 
us acknowledge no master but the Lord Jesus Christ 
as He reveals Himself to our individual conscious- 
ness. It would have us respect our freedom and 
rationality as among the most precious gifts of God — 
and show that respect by faithfully exercising these 
faculties on questions of the highest moment. It 
would have us reject everything in the nature of a 
persuasive faith, or a faith that rests on the authority 
of great names or distinguished leaders in the Church. 
It denies, and would have us deny, the right of any 
pope, bishop, priest, synod, council or convention, to 
decide for us what is the truth, or how God's law 
shall be interpreted or applied. It insists, and would 
have us insist, on the right of private judgment in 
religious matters, as a right too sacred to be ever 
surrendered. It encourages each one to look at 
spiritual things with his own eyes, to see truth in its 
own light, and so receive it rationally or with his 
own understanding. It says that every one should 
be led in freedom according to reason ; and should 
resist any attempt to discourage or hinder the freest 
exercise of his freedom and rationality, as an attempt 
to limit his spiritual attainments, to scrimp his man- 
hood and hinder his soul's fullest development and 
highest health. Says Swedenborg : 

"The dogma that the understanding is to be held in 



FREED OM AND RA T10NALITY. 1 5 J 

subjection to faith, is rejected in the New Church ; and 
in its place this is to be received as a maxim, that the 
truth of the church should be seen in order that it may be 
understood ; and truth cannot be seen otherwise than 
rationally. How can any man be led by the Lord and 
conjoined to heaven, who shuts his understanding against 
such things as relate to salvation and eternal life ? Is it 
not the understanding that is to be illumed and instructed ? 
And what is the understanding closed by religion but 
thick darkness, and such darkness, too, as rejects the light 
that would illume?" — A. R. 564. 

" The understanding truly human, when it is separate 
from what is material, sees truths as clearly as the eye sees 
objects. It sees truths as it loves them ; for as it loves 
them it is enlightened. The angels have wisdom in con- 
sequence of seeing truths ; therefore when it is said to any 
angel that this or that is to be believed although it is not 
understood, the angel replies, Do you think that I am in- 
sane, or that you yourself are a god whom I am bound to 
believe?" — Ap. Ex. 1100. 

And the New Jerusalem is also the friend and ad- 
vocate of religious liberty. It holds that, without 
freedom in religious matters, there can be no spiritual 
progress, no such thing as regeneration, no appro- 
priation of the Divine goodness, no internal conjunc- 
tion with the Lord, no salvation. 

"Since the Lord desires that everything which comes 
from Himself to man should be appropriated as man's 
own, (for otherwise there would be no conjunction of man 
with the Lord), therefore it is a law of the Divine Provi- 
dence that a man's understanding and will should not be 
at all compelled by another." — Ap. Ex. 1150. 
14 



158 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" The Lord's union with man, and the reciprocal union 
of man with the Lord, is effected by means of these two 
faculties, freedom and rationality." — "The Lord guards 
these two faculties in man, unhurt and as sacred, in every 
step of his Divine Providence." — "Without these two 
faculties man could not be conjoined to the Lord, and so 
could not be reformed and regenerated." — "Therefore the 
Lord guards freedom in man, as man guards the apple of 
his eye." — D. P. 92, 96, 97. 

Such is the spirit of the church signified and fore- 
shadowed by the New Jerusalem. It is eminently- 
large, inclusive, tolerant, and free. Freedom, ration- 
ality, catholicity and love are conspicuous in all its 
teachings, and are indeed their breath of life. 



X. 

A SECOND PAUL'S LDEA OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

AMONG the names of the many receivers and 
advocates of the doctrines of the New Jerusa- 
lem as taught by Swedenborg, that of Rev. John 
Clowes will ever hold a conspicuous place. Probably 
no other man has ever entered so fully as he into the 
spirit of these doctrines, so thoroughly comprehended 
the deep spiritual philosophy of the Swedish seer, 
or been so active and successful in acquainting the 
great English speaking people with his writings. 
He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
and Rector of St. John's in Manchester for nearly 
sixty years ; and for more than half a century was 
a cordial receiver and zealous advocate of the doc- 
trinal and religious teachings of Swedenborg. He 
proclaimed them openly from his pulpit to large and 
delighted audiences. He conversed and lectured on 
them at his own house, and on all suitable occasions 
elsewhere. He wrote numerous letters about them 
to his friends, at home and abroad. He translated 
some twenty volumes of Swedenborg's works, and 
wrote and published more than forty of his own 
(great and small), in explanation and vindication of 
his teachings. 

iS9 



l6o THE GOLDEN CITY. 

CLOWES IN RELATION TO SWEDENBORG. 

Rev. Mr. Noble, who was an intimate personal 
friend of Mr. Clowes, speaks of him as the "principal 
instrument" in extending the knowledge of Sweden- 
borg's teachings throughout the kingdom of Great 
Britain. He compares him with the great seer him- 
self, and thinks he stood to him in a relation similar 
to that of Aaron to Moses. He says : 

"To Britons, and to all who speak the language of 
Britain, he stood in a relation toward Swedenborg analo- 
gous to that which Aaron bore to Moses. But for him, 
or some other person raised to fill the office which he dis- 
charged so well, Swedenborg must still have been, to 
almost all, both in a natural and a spiritual point of view, 
as Moses says of himself, 'slow of speech, and of a slow 
tongue;' — unintelligible to the generality, not more for 
the learned language in which he wrote, than for the 
elevated and abstract character of the divine truths which 
he delivered. But in Mr. Clowes he found a genuine 
'brother,' — a kindred spirit, eminently qualified, as an- 
other Aaron, to be his 'spokesman unto the people.' 
This character he sustained not only by the translation of 
his works from Latin into English, which any other learned 
man might, if sufficiently zealous and industrious, have 
accomplished, but by a talent for bringing down the in- 
terior truths which they contain to the comprehension of 
the most simple and common understanding, and present- 
ing them in the most engaging form, even to the adapting 
of them for the instruction of children. It is owing, I 
verily believe, as its immediate cause, to our having had a 
Clowes, that the doctrines of the New Church have made 
greater progress in England, and in the United States of 



WHY CALLED A SECOND PAUL. l6l 

America, (the people of which are still Englishmen as to 
language,) than in any other country upon earth. No 
wonder, then, if one who was to be the instrument of 
such extensive usefulness, was called to the work by as 
special a divine interposition as was vouchsafed to Sweden- 
borg himself." 

In the last sentence of the above paragraph, Mr. 
Noble undoubtedly refers to the manner in which Mr. 
Clowes' interest in the writings of Swedenborg was 
first awakened. It was not less remarkable than the 
Apostle Paul's conversion to Christianity; and re- 
sembles it, indeed, so nearly, that the subject of it — 
viewed in connection with his zeal and success in 
propagating the new Christianity — may not inap- 
propriately be called a second Paul. 



" THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION" 

Shortly after his acceptance of the Rectorship of 
St. John's in Manchester, Mr. Clowes formed the 
acquaintance of Richard Houghton, Esq., of Liver- 
pool, a gentleman of great learning and piety, and 
a diligent reader and enthusiastic admirer of the 
writings of Swedenborg. Mr. Houghton urged him, 
in a manner so affectionate, sincere and earnest, to 
read " The True Christian Religion," — not then 
translated into English — that he at once sent to 
London and purchased a copy. But when he had 
procured it, he felt not the slightest inclination to 
read it ; and it remained upon the shelf several 
months unexamined and untouched. He had noticed 
14* L 



1 62 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

that it treated mainly on doctrinal points, and in 
these he felt no interest. Besides, he was well satis- 
fied with his spiritual attainments, and thought he had 
no need to trouble or concern himself with questions 
of a speculative nature, which he did not think could 
add either to his sanctity or inward peace. 

" Alas ! " says he, " I was not aware, at the time, 
either of the pearls of wisdom which I was over- 
looking", or of my own want of them, both for orna- 
ment and for use. I was deceiving myself (as is the 
case, it is to be feared with many Christians) by 
supposing that I had attained the highest point of 
Christian purification and perfection, and was already 
in full possession of the supreme good and the su- 
preme truth, without considering that the Christian 
life is a continually progressive life, and that to stand 
still, therefore, under any present attainments, whether 
of goodness or wisdom, is to change its character 
from progressive to stagnant." 



A REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE. 

At length a remarkable circumstance occurred 
which induced him to take up and read with care 
and without prejudice, the hitherto neglected vol- 
ume. The following is the account of it as written 
by himself: 

"In the month of October, immediately succeeding 
the spring, when the True Christian Religion was recom- 
mended to me by my friend at Liverpool, I went, accord- 
ing to annual custom, to visit an old college pupil of 



A REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE. 1 63 

mine, the late "Right Honorable John Smith, of Heath, 
in the county of York. On the evening before I set out, 
I opened the long-neglected volume, not with a view to 
read it, but merely to get a better idea of the general na- 
ture of its contents ; when, in turning over the pages, I hap- 
pened to cast my eye upon the term Divinum Humanum. 
The term appeared new and strange, but still it did not 
affect my mind in a manner to produce any lasting im- 
pression ; and accordingly, on shutting up the book, it 
seemed to be forgotten and gone. Probably, too, it 
would never again have been recalled to my remem- 
, brance, had it not been for the following memorable 
circumstance. 

" On awaking early one morning, not many days after 
my arrival at my friend's house, my mind was suddenly 
and powerfully drawn into a state of inward recollection, 
attended with an inexpressible calm and composure, into 
which was instilled a tranquillity of peace and heavenly 
joy, such as I had never before experienced. Whilst I 
lay musing on this strange, and to me most delightful 
harmony in the interiors of my mind, instantly there was 
made manifest, in the same recesses of my spirit, what I 
can call by no other name than a divine glory, surpassing 
all description, and exciting the most profound adoration. 
But what seemed to me the most singular circumstance on 
this occasion, was, that I was strongly impressed at the 
time, by a kind of internal dictate, that the glory was in 
close connection with that Divinum Humanum, or Divine 
Humanity above mentioned, and proceeded from it as 
from its proper divine source. 

" The glory continued during a full hour, allowing me 
sufficient time both to view and analyze it. Sometimes I 
closed my bodily eyes, and then opened them again, but 



164 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

the glory remained the same. It is well, however, to be 
understood that there was no appearance presented of any- 
visible form, but only a strong persuasion that the glory 
proceeded from a visible form, and that this form was no 
other than the Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ. When 
the glory disappeared, as it did by degrees, I quitted my 
bed ; but the recollection of what had happened attended 
me during the whole of the day, whether I was in com- 
pany or alone ; and what is still more remarkable, the 
next morning on my first awaking, the glory was again 
manifested; but, if possible, with increased splendor. 
Now, too, a singular effect was produced by it upon my 
mind, convincing me of the spiritual and providential 
origin of what I had seen, by the important end to which 
it pointed, and was designed to conduct me. The effect 
was no other than the excitement of a strong and almost 
irresistible desire to return home immediately, in order to 
enter upon a serious and attentive perusal of the neglected 
volume, which I had left behind me. And such was the 
powerful impulse of this desire, that although I had in- 
tended to remain with my friend a week or a fortnight 
longer, yet I made some excuse for quitting his house the 
next day, and hastened back to Manchester rather with 
the impetuosity of a lover than with the sedateness of a 
man who had no other object of pursuit but to consult the 
pages of an unknown and heretofore slighted book." 

CONVERSION TO THE NE W CHRISTIANITY. 

A sudden change in his feelings toward the neg- 
lected volume, was wrought by this circumstance. 
He immediately felt an uncontrollable desire to read 
the book. He did read it — and his interest and 



INTEREST IN THE NEW THEOLOGY. 165 

delight in its teachings increased with every page 
he read. To cite again his own words : 

" It is impossible for any language to express the full effect 
wrought in my mind by the perusal of this wonderful book. 
Suffice it, therefore, to observe that in proceeding from the 
chapter on the Creator and on Creation to the succeeding 
chapters on the Redeemer and Redemption, on the Divine 
Trinity, on the Sacred Scriptures or Word of God, on the 
Decalogue, on Faith, on Charity, on Free-will, on Repent- 
ance, on Reformation and Regeneration, on Imputation, on 
Baptism, on the Holy Supper, on the Consummation of the 
'Age, the Advent of the Lord, and the New Heaven and 
the New Church, it seemed as if a continually increasing 
blaze of new and recreating light was poured forth on the 
delighted understanding, opening it to the contemplation 
of the most sublime mysteries of wisdom, and convincing 
it of the being of a God, of the existence of an eternal 
world, of the interior sanctities of the Holy Scriptures, 
of the true nature of creation, redemption and regenera- 
tion, in a manner and degree, and with -a force of satis- 
factory evidence, in which those interesting subjects had 
never been viewed before. The mind, therefore, was no 
longer perplexed about the proper Object of its worship, 
because it was enlightened to see clearly — as by the light 
of a meridian sun, that Jesus Christ in his Divine Human- 
ity is that Object, He being the Creator from eternity, the 
Redeemer in time, and the Regenerator to eternity, thus 
containing in his own Divine Person the sacred Trinity 
of Father, Son and Holy Spirit ; the Father being his 
hidden essence, the Son his manifested existence, and the 
Holy Spirit his proceeding operation. In like manner all 
difficulties and doubts were removed respecting the sacred 
Scriptures, or Word of God, through the bright and here- 



1 66 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

tofore unseen, manifestation of their spiritual and interior 
contents, by virtue of which discovery apparent inconsist- 
encies vanished, apparent contradictions were reconciled ; 
and what before seemed trivial and nugatory, assumed a 
new and interesting aspect ; while the whole volume of 
Revelation was seen to be full of sanctity, of wisdom and 
of love from its Divine Author, and also to be in perpetual 
connection with that Author who is its inmost soul — its 
essential Spirit and Life. ' ' 

Encouraged by the stores of heavenly wisdom 
which he found in this volume, Mr. Clowes naturally 
felt a strong desire to read more of Swedenborg's 
works. 

" No sooner," he says, "had I finished the perusal of 
the True Christian Religion, than the treatise on Heaven 
and Hell, the Arcana Ccelestia, the Apocalypse Revealed, 
the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and 
Wisdom, and also concerning the Divine Providence, the 
Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love, &c. , with 
other minor tracts by the same author, were successively 
read, or rather devoured ; and as constantly excited won- 
der, delight and edification. At the same time a strong 
and ardent desire was enkindled to put others in possession 
of the same sources of heavenly intelligence ; and this de- 
sire frequently, yet tacitly, expressed itself in those words 
of the great Saviour, where he prays, 'Father, that they 
may be with me, to behold Thy glory.'* John 17 : 24. For 
the whole testimony as delivered by the messenger of the 
New Jerusalem verities in his theological writings, ap- 
peared to my mind like a radiant glory from the face of 
fesus Christ, and repeatedly called to my recollection the 
words of that incarnate God, where, speaking of his second 
advent, He says, 'Then shall ye see the sign of the Son of 



CHAR A CTER OF MR. CL WES. 1 67 

Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great 
glory.' Matt. 24: 30." 

Such is the account which Mr. Clowes himself has 
given of his conversion to the new Christianity, and 
his intense and steadily increasing interest in the 
New Jerusalem verities. 

HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER. 

And what was the character of the man who re- 
lates this remarkable experience ? What reputation 
did he bear among his cotemporaries and acquaint- 
ance ? The fact that he was Rector of St. John's 
Church for more than half a century, and retained 
for this whole period the affections of his people in 
a manner almost without a parallel — and this, too, 
notwithstanding his known interest in the doctrines 
of the New Church, and his zeal in disseminating 
them — is sufficient evidence on this point. All who 
knew him bear testimony to the remarkable strength, 
elevation and nobleness of his character — to the 
purity, beauty and holiness of his life. His biogra- 
pher, after enumerating some of his estimable traits 
and valuable labors, says : 

"But what most delighted those with whom he asso- 
ciated, was, his unaffected piety, his Christian charity, his 
humility and innocence of character, together with his 
amiable and gentlemanly deportment ; these excellences, 
combined with his great abilities and acquirements as a 
scholar and divine, rendered him one of those exalted 
characters, which are, at this day, rarely to be met with. ' ' 



1 68 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

And it is recorded of this remarkable man, who 
lived to the advanced age of eighty-eight years, that 
he died as he had lived : — full of the sweet and ex- 
alted spirit of the Master; full of kindness, gentle- 
ness and Christian love ; full of meekness, charity 
and humble reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ ; full 
of faith in the truths of the New Jerusalem as re- 
vealed through Swedenborg; full of intense longing 
that these truths might be more widely disseminated 
and accepted; and that everybody might learn (as 
he had) from personal experience, their purifying, 
ennobling and regenerating power. 

A SCRAP FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The following are the concluding paragraphs of 
his autobiography, or narrative of his religious ex- 
perience, written when he was seventy-five years of 
age, and after he had known the enlightening and 
comforting influence of the truths of the New Church 
for nearly half a century : 

"The author cannot conclude his narrative without 
offering up to the Father of Mercies his most devout and 
grateful acknowledgments for the extraordinary privilege 
and inestimable blessing vouchsafed him, in having been 
admitted to the knowledge and acknowledgment of the 
truth and importance of the doctrines unfolded by Swe- 
denborg from the Word of God, as the genuine doctrines 
of Christianity. For what worldly glory, gain, or happi- 
ness can stand in competition with this, — to know Jesus 
Christ to be the only true God, and to be allowed to ap- 
proach and worship Him in His Divine Humanity ; to be 



A SCRAP FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 1 69 

delivered thus from all perplexity as to the proper object 
of worship ; to see, at the same time, the divine volume 
of Revelation opened; its interior treasures displayed; 
its evidence and authority thus confirmed by its divine 
contents ; its apparent contradictions reconciled ; whilst 
all that is divine and holy, all that is good and true, all 
that is calculated to excite the veneration of intelligent 
beings, and the affection of penitent ones ; all, in short, 
that has a tendency either to enlighten the human under- 
standing, or to purify the human will ; either to edify, by 
the bright and profound lessons of divine truth, or to 
soften and console by the sweet and tender influences of 
the^ divine love, is perceived to proceed from this Divine 
Fountain, as its only source ! 

"Yet such is the transcendent glory, gain, and happi- 
ness imparted to every penitent and devout receiver of the 
above heavenly doctrines. Add to this, the nearness and 
connection between this world and another, demonstrated 
by such a weight of irresistible evidence ; the great evan- 
gelical doctrines of faith, of charity, of repentance and 
remission of sins, of temptation, reformation, regenera- 
tion, the freedom of the will opened, explained, and en- 
forced, according to their edifying and important mean- 
ing; the nature, also, and effect of the Last Judgment, 
the Lord's second advent, and the descent of the New 
Jerusalem, presented to view in all the brightness and ful- 
ness of truth, and confirmed by the testimony of the sure 
Word of prophecy; and some faint idea may then be 
formed of the immense debt of gratitude owing at this 
day from all the families of the earth to their heavenly 
Father. 

"For who, except that Father, 'whose tender mercies 
are over all His works,' could thus cause His light to shine 
is 



170 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

in darkness, for the deliverance of His people from evil, 
from error, and from destruction, and, at the same time, 
for the guidance of their feet into the ways of righteous- 
ness, truth, and salvation ? To his praises and most un- 
feigned thankfulness on this occasion, the author is lastly- 
urgent to add his ardent prayers, that the above glorious 
light may shine in every corner of the habitable globe, 
until the whole earth becomes that blessed tabernacle of 
God which was announced to be with men, in which ' God 
will dwell and be with them their God, and wipe away all 
tears from their eyes.' Rev. xxi. 3, 4. 

" Nor can he entertain a doubt but that, sooner or later, 
this prayer will be fulfilled, inasmuch as the Almighty 
pledged Himself for its fulfilment, when the seventh angel 
sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 
' The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for 
ever and ever.' Rev. xi. 15. 

"In the full persuasion, then, that all these glorious 
things are coming to pass, and, indeed, in some degree 
are already come to pass, the author cannot express the 
state of his mind in language more appropriate than that 
of the devout man of old, ' Lord, now lettest Thou Thy 
servant depart in peace, according to Thy word ; for mine 
eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared 
before the face of all people ; a Light to lighten the Gen- 
tiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.' Luke ii. 29 to 
33. Amen. 

Glory be to God in the highest. 
Manchester, Feb. 28, 1818." 



HIS EXCELLENCES A CKNO WLED GED. 1 7 1 
TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY. 

Seldom has higher or more deserved tribute of praise 
been offered to the memory of any man, than that 
which was spontaneously poured forth through the 
columns of the public journals, on the death of Mr. 
Clowes. The London Times (June 4, 183 1) said : 

" His affections were ever alive toward all who came 
within the sphere of his usefulness; and it would have 
been difficult for any one to resist the influence of that 
goodness which showed itself in all he did, or said, or 
looked ; and to have been with him, even for a little while, 
without being impressed with a sense of the loveliness of 
Christian principle, as it was exemplified in him. He was 
a scholar — an elegant and a sound one; but he felt that 
the highest triumph of human learning and wisdom, is, 
when they are subservient to the establishment of those 
everlasting truths by which man lives forever. In sim- 
plicity of heart, in unity of purpose, in the abandonment 
of every selfish consideration, in the unclouded and play- 
ful cheerfulness of a pure and benevolent mind, in the 
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, in the beauty and 
happiness of genuine holiness, he truly adorned the doc- 
trine of God his Saviour in all things ; and being tried by 
long suffering, he found that that in which he trusted was 
sufficient for him in all circumstances, and unto the end. 

"Those who did not know him, may believe this tribute 
to be the offspring of partial friendship and affection ; 
but the many who did, will feel how inefficient must be 
the attempt rightly to commemorate his admirable and 
truly Christian excellences." 

The Manchester Courier, in an obituary of the same 
date, said : 



172 n THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" In recording the excellence of this venerable man and 
truly apostolic minister, it may be allowed to mark, as 
prominent features of a character in which all was lovely, 
his child-like simplicity, his singleness of heart, the ele- 
vation of his devotion, the cheerfulness of his piety, the 
beauty of his holiness, the charity of his zeal, his bright 
imagination, his lively fancy, the ease of his seriousness, 
the innocence of his mirth, the purity of his exuberant 

joy- 

"He was admirable in all the faculties and powers of an 
enlightened mind ; but the charm by which he won and 
ruled the hearts of all, was that grace in man which is the 
nearest image on earth of a holy and merciful God, — the 
boundless benevolence of a truly catholic spirit. 

"This admirable person enjoyed, in a singular degree, 
through life, the respect and affection of all by whom he 
was known; but, in an especial manner, the veneration 
of his own flock, over which (and it was his first and only 
cure of souls) he was, by God's providence, the shepherd 
for the very unusual term of nearly sixty-two years." 

And similar testimony to the rare beauty and ex- 
cellence of his character, was borne by other journals 
— and, indeed, by all who knew him. 



HIS IDEA OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Now, it is a matter of some interest to know how 
this good man, so richly imbued with the Divine 
Master's spirit, and so well qualified, therefore, to 
enter into the spirit and true meaning of the writings 
of the Swedish seer — it is a matter of some interest, 
I say, to know how such a man understood and in- 



CLOWES' IDEA OF THE GOLDEN CITY. 173 

terpreted the works he so highly prized. How did 
he understand Swedenborg upon the subject dis- 
cussed in these pages? Where and what did he un- 
derstand the New Jerusalem to be, and in what way- 
did he expect and labor for its establishment ? Did 
he look or seek for a new ecclesiastical organization ? 
Did he think that only those who have read and ac- 
cepted the teachings of Swedenborg, belong to the 
New Jerusalem ? And did he busy himself in organ- 
izing a new visible body, and setting in operation 
the complicated machinery of a new sect? 

By no means. His idea of the New Church, 
whereof he acknowledged Swedenborg to be the 
divinely-appointed herald, was, that it is not a new 
church-organization, but "a new state of life among 
men " — a New Dispensation of universal grace and 
truth. In one of his works he says : 

"I apprehend that by the term New Church, is not 
meant a mere new Sect, or particular denomination of 
Christians, as Quakers, Moravians, Methodists, and the 
like; but that it denotes a Dispensation of universal grace, 
mercy and truth to the whole human race, without excep- 
tion or limitation of time, place or sect." — Dialogue be- 
tween Sophron and Pkiladelphus. 

Again he says : 

" Nothing, therefore, can be plainer, than that the New 
Jerusalem Dispensation is to be universal, and to extend 
unto all people, nations and languages on the face of the 
earth to be a blessing unto such as are meet to receive a 
blessing. Sects and sectarians, as such, can find no place 
in this General Assembly of the ransomed of the Lord. 
15* 



174 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

All the little distinctions of modes, forms and particular 
expressions of devotion and worship, will be swallowed 
up and lost in the unlimited effusions of heavenly love, 
charity and benevolence with which the hearts of every 
member of this glorious New Church and Body of Jesus 
Christ will overflow one toward another. Men will no 
longer judge one another as to the mere externals of 
church communion, be they perfect or be they imperfect ; 
for they will be taught that, whosoever acknowledges the 
incarnate Jehovah in heart and life, departing from all 
evil, and doing what is right and good according to the 
commandments, he is a member of the New Jerusalem, a 
living stone in the Lord's new Temple, and a part of that 
great family in heaven and earth, whose common Father 
and Head is Jesus Christ. Every one, therefore, will call 
his neighbor Brother, in whom he observes this spirit of 
pure charity ; and he will ask no questions concerning the 
form of words which compose his creed, but will be satis- 
fied with observing in him the purity and power of a 
heavenly life." — Ibid. 



OPPOSED TO A NEW ORGANIZATION. 

His life was devoted to the dissemination of the 
new truths ; and no one ever had a larger or more 
receptive audience. But so far from wishing to estab- 
lish a new organization — so far, indeed, was he from 
believing that any new visible body was or could ever be 
the Apocalyptic New Jerusalem, he steadfastly and 
persistently opposed any such idea. Not only did he 
remain in the Episcopal Church till the day of his 
death, more than fifty years after his reception of the 



OPPOSED TO A NEW ORGANIZATION. 175 

doctrines of the New Jerusalem — meanwhile approv- 
ing himself all the more devoted, efficient and faithful 
as a Christian minister — but he advised all other re- 
ceivers of these doctrines to do likewise. He did not 
believe in separating from other communions. He re- 
garded such separation as needless and unauthorized ; 
— as fraught with danger if not with mischief; — as 
prompted by a sectarian spirit, and tending to foster 
the growth of sectarianism. He, therefore, spoke 
against it, wrote against it, and worked against it 
till the day of his death. He published an able 
discourse on this subject, under the title of " An 
Address from the translator to the readers of the 
theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, in- 
tended to point out the general design and tendency 
of those writings, and particularly to show that they 
do not authorize their readers in a separation, at this 
time, from external communion with other professing 
Christians." And after remarking upon some of the 
dangers to be apprehended from such separation, he 
says : 

" Would the compass of this address permit, I could 
here point out some other dangers to be apprehended by 
the New Church from a sudden separation from external 
communion with other professing Christians, such as par- 
ticularly the danger of falling into a sectarian spirit, and 
thereby despising or thinking lightly of all others, who are 
not worshiping God according to certain forms expressed 
in a peculiar language. But I trust that what has been 
already said, will be sufficient to convince every candid 
reader of the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, that such 
separation is neither prudent nor expedient at this time 



iy6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

whilst the New Church is in its present infant state, nor yet 
agreeable to the sentiments of our enlightened author." 



THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 

In this Address, Mr. Clowes gives us his idea of 
the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem. 
He says : 

" It is a church not to be limited by any external forms 
or ceremonies of worship, neither to be pointed out by a lo 
here ! or lo there ! but universal as the reception of heav- 
enly truth and obedience to its dictates, consisting of the 
upright and sincere in heart amongst all people, nations 
and languages, and forming one grand body or kingdom 
here on earth, whereof the Lord Jesus Christ is the soul 
or head, and of which all are living members, who worship 
Him in spirit and in truth. Woe be to those, who would 
endeavor to confine this blessed tabernacle and temple of 
the Most High and Holy One, within any pale of their 
own framing, under the delusive imagination that any mere 
opinion, speculation, doctrine, form or ceremony whatso- 
ever, can of themselves constitute that spiritual building, 
in which the almighty and eternal Jehovah Jesus dwells, 
with all the blessings of his parental love, and the powers 
of his salvation ! Whereas it must be very plain to every 
attentive reader, both of the Sacred Scriptures and of the 
writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, that the church of 
Christ consists solely of the humble, the upright and the 
obedient, agreeable to those words of the Lord, ' My 
mother and my brethren are these, which hear the Word 
of God, and do it,' (Luke viii. 21 ;) and in another place, 
* My sheep hear my voice,' (John x. 27 ;) where to hear 
is to obey." 



NOT A VISIBLE BODY. 1 77 

Such was this second Paul's idea of the New- 
Church signified by the New Jerusalem. So well 
did he understand the meaning and design of the 
Heavenly Doctrines. So fully did he enter into and 
so thoroughly comprehend their large and catholic 
spirit. So clearly did he see that the New Jerusalem 
is not a visible body, and can never be identified, 
therefore, with any organization or sect. 

M 



XI. 

CONCURRENT TESTIMONY OF RECENT WRITERS. 

BUT few of Mr. Clowes' contemporaries, however, 
were able to accept his idea of the New Jeru- 
salem. But there is evidence that his view is now 
becoming the generally accepted view of the more 
intelligent and thoughtful students of Swedenborg 
everywhere. In confirmation of this statement, we 
offer the following facts and citations. 

HYDE. 

In an interesting address delivered by its President 
(Rev. John Hyde) before the English New Church 
Conference at its Annual meeting in 1869, and pub- 
lished in the London Intellectual Repository for Sep- 
tember of that year, occur the following paragraphs, 
which are in complete harmony with the train of 
thought pursued in these pages, and germane to the 
subject under consideration. Mr. Hyde says : 

"The ground of Christian unity is love to God and the 
neighbor, and not similarity of doctrinal thinking. Such 
a unity, Swedenborg further tells us, existed in ' the an- 
cient church, which extended itself over several kingdoms, 
viz., Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Lybia, 
Egypt, Philistia, even to Tyre and Sidon, through the 

178 



HYDE'S IDEA OF THE NEW CHURCH. 1 79 

land of Canaan on each side Jordan. In each of these 
kingdoms there was a difference as to doctrinals and rituals ; 
but still the Church was one, because charity was essential 
in all j and then the Lord's kingdom was in the earths as 
in the heavens, for such is the nature and constitution of 
heaven.' — A. C. 2385. 

" Whatever a man may profess, however much of truth 
he may know, and to whatsoever organization he may be- 
long, he is not a member of the Lord's Church unless he 
be striving to carry out his knowledge into practice, in 
love to God and charity toward man, and thus living the 
Christian life. ' Truths, however they are known and 
understood, if they are not at the same time lived, are 
nothing but inanimate truths. Whence it is, that there 
are no truths where there is no good, — unless as to form, 
and not as to essence.' 

"The interior of membership in the Lord's church, 
consequently, is the doing of good from love toward God 
and man. Who are truly enrolled in this church, only 
the Lord can fully know. The interior purposes and 
affections of a man's spirit can be concealed from other 
men in this life, though they will be openly made manifest 
in the other world. Hence the Lord's church is not a 
visible ecclesiasticism of any name, although it will ever 
prompt men to combine for religious purposes. It is a 
church invisible to man, known to the Lord alone ; and 
comprises the good out of every ecclesiasticism, denomina- 
tion and sect of Christians, and indeed all the good, 
whether or not they belong to any organized body of 
Christians at all. 

"This being the character of the Lord's church on 
earth, it can be plainly seen what is the character of his 
New Church. It is not a man-made external organiza- 



180 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

tion. It does not consist merely of the few professed re- 
ceivers of the doctrines of the New Church communicated 
through Swedenborg. The Lord's Church is one and in- 
divisible. It still embraces all the good in all denomina- 
tions who have lived since the second Advent of the Lord, 
whom He is gradually leading in freedom to the knowl- 
edge and acceptance of the sublime verities of the new 
dispensation, as most fully made known through Sweden- 
borg. The old dispensation has passed away; the new 
has begun. The Old Church, as a church, has ceased to 
be : there is no church of the Lord save the New Church 
now existing on earth ; and this Church is blessed with 
the promises of the greater glory, and is working itself 
out of the trammels and limitations of the past under the 
Divine Providence of its Great Shepherd and Head. We 
can with justice speak of ' the old doctrines,' or of 'the 
old theology;' but the phrase, 'the Old Church,' really 
means the state of the Church before it came to its end at 
the Second Advent ; that is, before the New Church was 
established. Every good man is a member of the Lord's 
New Church — for there is no other Church now existing 
— although he may not yet have become a conscious or a 
full receiver of the true theology of the New Church. 
The Lord looks at the internal states of men as to good- 
ness, and not at the external circumstance as to what man- 
made organization the man has joined. We forego the 
real glory and greatness of the Church, if we adopt any 
less catholic conception of it than this." 



WORCESTER. 

Substantially the same view has been expressed 
by the President of " the General Convention of the 



WORCESTER'S VIE W OF IT. 151 

New Jerusalem in the United States." In a Report 
by him, read before that body at one of its annual 
meetings a few years ago, Dr. Worcester recognizes 
the fact that the great multitude of good men and 
women belonging to the various Christian sects, are 
really members of the New Church signified by the 
New Jerusalem, though not yet in the open acknowl- 
edgment or reception of its doctrines. He says : 

• "There is a great multitude who are reckoned among 
the members of the former church [because externally con- 
nected with some of the Christian sects], but who have no 
affection for its doctrines, and therefore no internal or en- 
during faith in them ; but their effort is to live well ; they 
act from religious principles ; they shun evils as sins against 
God ; they reverence and love the Scriptures ; and read 
them with affection, with faith, and with a desire to con- 
form to the instruction which is there given them ; they 
attend upon religious ordinances, and conscientiously per- 
form all the duties of life ; . . . . they love what they re- 
ceive from the literal sense [of the Word] ; they are en- 
tirely satisfied "with it ; and they desire nothing more and 
nothing higher, lest it should occasion the loss of what 
they now have. Such persons are most certainly in the 
kingdom of God ; and they are to be regarded as belong- 
ing to the New Church, and as making an important part 
of it." — New Jerusalem Magazine f oi' July, 1847, P- 4 So * 

And more recently in his address before the 
General Convention of 1864, Dr. Worcester says : 

"There is one question with respect to our neighbors, 

which we ought to consider carefully ; and that is, as to 

the manner in which we ought to think, feel, speak and 

act with regard to their religions. There has been a ten- 

16 



1 82 THE GOLDEN CITY, 

dency among us to -think that the religions which now 
exist are the same as those which existed before the Last 
Judgment ; and consequently, to think that they are alto- 
gether corrupt and destitute of all saving power. This 
view of the subject is very unjust, and is growing more un- 
just every day. . . . 

"The changes in other forms of religion have been im- 
mense [since the Last Judgment] ; but generally for the 
better. Love to the Lord and the neighbor is more gen- 
erally recognized as an element [yes, as the essential ele- 
ment] in religion than formerly; and where this love 
exists, it is continually undermining false doctrines, caus- 
ing the truth to shine, and leading to more correct views 
of it. . . . 

"Thus the New Church in its general sense — as com- 
prehending all the religions in the world — has been, and 
now is, growing rapidly ; while the New Church in its 
specific sense,* has been growing slowly. But, before the 
Lord, the whole is one great work for the improvement of 
all mankind. The New Heaven which He has created, 
has in it many mansions for the accommodation of many 
varieties of angels ; and the New Church which is coming 
down from that New Heaven, has also many mansions for 

* By the New Church " in its specific sense," Dr. Worcester 
means those who openly profess their belief in the doctrines of the 
New Church as revealed through Swedenborg. But we are not 
aware of the existence of any authority for this distinction. It cer- 
tainly is not to be found in Swedenborg. He often speaks of " the 
Church in its specific sense; " but always says it is "where the Word 
is, and the Lord is thereby known." The receivers of the heavenly 
doctrines, if they do not live according to them, form no part of the 
New Church in either its specific or general sense ; for only where 
" the life is formed according to doctrine derived from the Word," 
does the real church exist. — A. C. 6638. See also n. 3963. 



SEARS' VIEW OF IT. 1 83 

corresponding societies among men. And if we are in any 
degree worthy of our position as New Churchmen, we shall 
regard all those mansions as belonging to our Heavenly 
Father's house; and our sympathies will not be confined 
to the particular part of His kingdom in which we live, 
but will extend to the whole of it. We shall rejoice in 
the prosperity of other religions,* as well as in the pros- 
perity of our own." — p. 28-31. 



SEARS. 

And still more explicit, and in perfect accord with 
the view we are advocating, is the author of that 
grand work, -' The Heart of Christ," which we have 
had occasion to quote before. In a published state- 
ment of his creed a few years ago, Mr. Sears said : 

" We believe in a New Church, the New Jerusalem 
descending from God out of heaven ; . . . and that the 
New Church system of interpretation evolves its three 
primal doctrines with logical precision and in heavenly 
clearness. These doctrines are, the Divine Humanity in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, the plenary inspiration of the Word 
of God, and a life of charity in conformity therewith ; 
God as one Divine Person ever present with his church as 
the glorified Christ ; his Word all-perfect as a rule of faith 
and practice ; and a life of obedience to its teachings of 
justice and love. . . . We believe that one God revealed 

* We do not know where Dr. Worcester gets his authority for 
characterizing different Christian denominations, or different inter- 
pretations of the Scripture as "different religions." The Christian 
religion is one religion — always so recognized by Swedenborg — 
however various its administration, or different the understanding of 
the Scriptures by different portions of Christendom. 



1 84 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

in one person, and that person the Divine Humanity of 
Jesus Christ, has power, when earnestly sought, to melt all 
the ice out of the soul as in the warmth of a summer's- 
noon." — Monthly Religious Magazine, April, 1859. 

But where and what is the New Jerusalem that 
Mr. Sears believes is descending out of heaven from 
God ? We have his own explicit answer in his last 
great work : 

" The New Jerusalem is neither a lo ! here, nor a lo ! 
there. It is not an ecclesiasticism, but a form of faith, 
of doctrine, and of worship, so warm with the love of the 
Lord that He abides in the soul, the river of its peace, 
the fountain of its charities, the inspiration of its tender 
humanities, after all the old Judaism and Romanism have 
been adjudged and cast away. It is Christianity unitizing 
God, man, and nature; making our cleansed and reno- 
vated humanity the tabernacle of God with men, and 
thence turning the earth into Eden, and making it the 
reflex image of the skies. It descends into all minds, and 
thence into all the ecclesiasticisms, as we renounce our 
Judaism and our heathenism for the spirit of universal 
brotherhood ; and then ' the nations of them that are 
saved do walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth 
do bring their honor and glory into it,' " — The Heart of 
Christ, p. 104, '5. 

JAMES. 

Hear the testimony of one other recent writer — 
the author of several works of rare depth and inter- 
est. Probably there are few persons on either 
continent, who have more fully comprehended the 
grand scope and purpose of the New Dispensation 



JAMES ' VIE W OE IT. 1 8 5 

announced by Swedenborg, than Henry James ; and 
none, perhaps, who have more thoroughly mastered 
the spiritual philosophy of the great seer as well 
as some of the profoundest problems connected with 
man's nature and destiny. It is with much satis- 
faction, therefore, that we are able to quote from 
this deep thinker and graceful writer, such passages 
as the following : 

" What obstacles exist in the minds of religious people 
— people who are sincerely anxious to know and do the 
will of God — to the reception of new church light as 
that light stands disclosed in the remarkable writings of 
Swedenborg? This is our question. We find multitudes 
of tender, generous, and profoundly religious minds in all 
the divided Christian sects, who are consciously starving 
and perishing upon the slender fare which is hebdoma- 
dally served out to them ; and we ask, What is it which 
hinders these persons immediately receiving the stupendous 
consolations of the new and spiritual church ? 

' ' I think there can be but one answer to this inquiry ; 
and it is, that these persons are continually taught to look 
upon the new church, not as a spiritual and therefore uni- 
versal church, but simply as a new Christian sect ; and 
upon the writings of Swedenborg, consequently, as the 
ravings of a fanatical or disordered brain. I say these 
persons are taught to take this view of the new church 
pretensions. And if you ask me how they are thus taught, 
I answer : By the purely ecclesiastical aspect which is given 
to the new church idea, by so many sincere but incon- 
siderate admirers of Swedenborg. The dramatic or self- 
styled new church assumes before the world simply the 
attitude of a new ecclesiastical organization, or a new 
16* 



1 86 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

organization for external worship, claiming a new clerical 
order, and a more virtuous or valid administration of the 
Christian ordinances than pertains to any other sect. 
Thus the world is led to consider the new church, not as 
a new life or spirit in man, growing out of a renewed 
nature, and exemplifying itself in the broadest and most 
genuine social fellowship, or in every form of domestic, 
social, civil and religious use ; but only as a new visible 
sect, having a local habitation and a name, and capable 
therefore of being geometrically defined and demon- 
strated." — The Church of Christ not an Ecclesiasticism, 
p. 24, '5. 

"A new church must prove itself such by newness of 
spirit, by a spirit of universal charity, a charity which shall 
loathe to be pre-eminent even over Pagans and Turks, let 
alone its fellow- Christians. Any spirit short of this, any 
spirit which virtually says to sincere worshipers of what- 
ever name, ' Stand aside ! we claim to offer a more accept- 
able worship than you ! ' is an extremely ancient spirit, — 
is as ancient at least as that unhappy Pharisee we read of 
in Holy Writ, who approached the temple of divine wor- 
ship, saying, ' Father, I thank thee that I am not as 
other men,' &c. ; and who therefore went down to his 
house considerably disadvantaged from other men." — 
Ibid. p. 26, '7. 

Again, the same writer says : 

" The roseate dawn of that new church of which the 
world has so long and so reverently read in ancient proph- 
ecy, is at length flushing the entire mental horizon of 
humanity ; that new and everlasting church, the crown 
and consummation of all past churches, which is consti- 
tuted solely by the regenerate nature, of her members, or 
a life of spontaneous love to God and man. It is identical 



SWEDENBORG NO SECT-FOUNDER. 1 87 

with what the mystical Scriptures call the New Jerusalem, 
meaning by that carnal symbol nothing indeed appre- 
ciable to the carnal eye, nor at all germane to the carnal 
heart, but a truly Divine change in the nature of man. 
It is, also, called a new church, both because it is the 
crown and fulfillment of all past churches, and because a 
church in the spiritual idea invariably signifies a regenerate 
life in man. ... No man can say of it, lo here ! or, lo 
there ! any more than he can limit the path of the light- 
ning which now shines in one part of the heavens, and 
now in the opposite;" for her members "will have no 
consciousness of merit, leading them either to seek or to 
accept conspicuity." — Ibid. p. 39. 

THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE. 

As further evidence of the progress of the same 
idea among the students of Swedenborg, I quote the 
following from " the Editor's Table " in the Boston 
New Church Magazine for March, 1873. 

"In all his many works, from the first page of the 
Arcana Coelestia to the last line of The True Christian 
Religion, there is not one word to be found which gives 
any reason for regarding their great author as a sect- 
founder, or as having the slightest desire to be so thought. 
Above all such paltry ambition Swedenborg serenely 
stands. Beneath him wrangle and dispute those petty 
men who can tolerate no truth unless it bears their stamp 
or stands protected by their trade-mark. But the purer 
air from heaven, where sects are unknown and yet no two 
angels think precisely alike, surrounds him. 

" Most fitting is it that this great man should be the 
acknowledged leader, humanly speaking, of the new 



1 88 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

movement of the Ages — the movement which disregards 
and disowns sects, and seeks to unite all Christians on 
one broad platform where disagreements shall be forgotten 
and charity only be thought of. Hence it is that, whereas 
in former times the tendency of Christians was to divide 
into sects on all sorts of trivial disagreements in faith and 
practice, for the last few years the period of integration — 
of movement towards a common centre — has set in. We 
cannot but believe that this common centre towards which 
all Christians (but very many blindly) move, is the all in 
all of religion, the worship of the Divine Humanity — of 
Christ the Lord. . . . Every one who inquires at all about 
the matter, must be convinced that the Christian world is 
coming more and more to the acknowledgment of this 
central doctrine, and thus visibly almost, the New Jeru- 
salem is building up all around us. But under Providence 
it seems to be a preparation for the reception of this all- 
embracing doctrine, that men are coming into the ac- 
knowledgment of the fact that the true standard of the 
Christian is not, Does he believe right ? but, Does he live 
right?" 



XII. 

A CONSTELLATION OF INDEPENDENT WITNESSES. 

IN nearly all religious denominations there are 
some free and independent minds, who, because 
of the purity of their motives, the clearness of their 
perceptions, the strength of their convictions, and 
their freedom of utterance, are the recognized leaders 
of religious thought in their respective communions. 
Such minds, because of their freedom and indepen- 
dence, attain to a greater elevation, and therefore see 
things in clearer light, than others who are in bond- 
age to a creed, and who rely more on the votes of 
the majority than on the inspirations of the Spirit. 
These minds are usually the first to catch and reflect 
the beams of any new truth, as the loftiest mountains 
catch the first beams of the morning and reflect them 
upon the valleys below. It may, therefore, be alike 
interesting and instructive to inquire how this class of 
minds have viewed the subject we are considering ; 
or where and what they have considered the true 
church on earth to be. 

CHANNING. 

Take first, the testimony of that truly great and 
good man — one of the brightest ornaments that 

189 



190 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

ever adorned the American pulpit — William Ellery 
Channing. Nominally a Unitarian, he gave evidence 
of the most unfaltering devotion to every righteous 
cause ; and in his later meditations, seems to have 
been a devout worshiper of God in Christ. For in 
his last public utterance, which has been called the 
Swan-song of a Son of Light, he says : " The doc- 
trine of the i Word made flesh,' shows us God uniting 
Himself most intimately with our nature, manifesting 
Himself in a human form, for the very end of making 
us partakers of his own perfection." 

The name of Channing will ever be associated 
with the cause of intellectual and religious liberty, 
for which he labored so earnestly and accomplished 
so much. Though living and writing during a period 
of a hot theological controversy, and often encoun- 
tering the most unjust and irritating assaults from 
opponents, yet no writings are more thoroughly 
pervaded than his with the brave and fearless, yet 
sweet and charitable spirit of the Master. 

And Channing's idea of the true church, as set 
forth in his masterly discourse on " The Church," is 
essentially Swedenborg's idea of the New Jerusalem 
as exhibited in these pages. He insists that it is an 
invisible and truly catholic church, consisting of all 
who love the Lord and the neighbor, of whatever 
name or creed. After remarking upon the design and 
use of organized societies or "particular churches," 
he says : 

" In the preceding remarks I have had chiefly in view- 
particular churches, organized according to some particular 



CHANNINCS IDEA OF THE CHURCH. I9I 

forms ; and I have maintained that these are important only 
as ministering to Christian holiness or virtue. There is, 
however, a grander church, to which I now ask your atten- 
tion ; and the consideration of this will peculiarly confirm 
the lesson on which I am insisting, namely, that there is 
but one essential thing, true holiness, or disinterested love 
to God and man. There is a grander church than all par- 
ticular ones, however extensive ; the Church Catholic or 
Universal, spread over all lands, and one with the church 
in heaven. That all Christ's followers form one body, 
one fold, is taught in various passages in the New Testa- 
ment. You remember the earnestness of his last prayer, 
' that they might all be one, as he and his Father are one.' 
Into this church all who partake of the spirit of Christ are 
admitted. It asks not who has baptized us ; whose pass- 
port we carry ; what badge we wear. If ' baptized by the 
Holy Ghost,' its wide gates are open to us. Within this 
church are joined those whom different names have severed 
or still sever. We hear nothing of Greek, Roman, English 
churches, but of Christ's church only. My friends, this is 
not an imaginary union. The Scriptures in speaking of it 
do not talk rhetorically, but utter the soberest truth. All 
sincere partakers of Christian virtue are essentially one. 
In the spirit which pervades them dwells a uniting power 
found in no other tie. Though separated by oceans, they 
have sympathies strong and indissoluble. ' ' — Works, Vol. 
VI., pp. 203, '4. 

Again, in the same discourse, he gives us his idea 
of the central principle in the church, and the en- 
during bond of fellowship among the disciples of 
Christ, which is identically the same as that an- 
nounced by Swedenborg — the same as that con- 
veyed by the Master's own words : 



I92 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" Because the church is spoken of as one body, vine, or 
temple, theologians have argued that it is one outward 
organization, to which all men must be joined. But a 
doctrine built on metaphor is worth little. Every kind 
of absurdity may find a sanction in figures of speech, 
explained by tame, prosaic, cold-hearted commentators. 
The beautiful forms of speech to which I have referred 
were intended to express the peculiarly close and tender 
unions which necessarily subsist among all the enlightened 
and sincere disciples of such a religion as Christ's, a reli- 
gion, whose soul, essence, and breath of life is love ; 
which reveals to us in Jesus the perfection of philanthropy, 
and which calls to us to drink spiritually of that blood of 
self-sacrifice which was shed for the whole human race. 
How infinitely exalted is the union of minds and hearts 
formed by such a religion, above any outward connection 
established by rites and forms ! Yet the latter has been 
seized on by the earthly understanding as the chief mean- 
ing of Scripture, and magnified into supreme importance, 
Has not Paul taught us that there is but one perfect bond, 
Love ? * Has not Christ taught us that the seal set on his 
disciples, by which all men are to know them, is Love ? f 
Is not this the badge of the true church, the life of the 
true body of Christ ? And is not every disciple, of every 
name and form, who is inspired with this, embraced indis- 
solubly in the Christian union? " — Ibid. pp. 212, '3. 

Again : showing his estimate of the supreme im- 
portance of righteous and heavenly character, and 
the utter worthlessness of all else where this is 
wanting — which is another distinguishing char- 
acteristic of the church of the New Jerusalem : 

" The doctrine of this Discourse is plain. Inward 
* Colossians iii. 14. f John xiii. 35. 



THE GRAND HERESY. 1 93 

sanctity, pure love, disinterested attachment to God and 
man, obedience of heart and life, sincere excellence of 
character, this is the one thing needful, this the essential 
thing in religion ; and all things else, ministers, churches, 
ordinances, places of worship, all are but means, helps, 
secondary influences/ and utterly worthless when separated 
from this. To imagine that God regards anything but 
this, that he looks at anything but the heart, is to dishonor 
Him, to express a mournful insensibility to his pure char- 
acter. Goodness, purity, virtue, this is the only distinc- 
tion in God's sight. This is intrinsically, essentially, ever- 
lastingly, and by its own nature, lovely, beautiful, glorious, 
divine. It owes nothing to time, to circumstance, to out- 
ward connections. It shines by its own light. It is the 
sun of the spiritual universe. It is God himself dwelling 
in the human soul. Can any man think lightly of it be- 
cause it has not grown up in a certain church, or exalted 
any church above it ? My friends, one of the grandest 
truths of religion is, the supreme importance of character, 
of virtue, of that divine spirit which shone out in Christ. 
The grand heresy is to substitute anything for this, whether 
creed, or form, or church. One of the greatest wrongs to 
Christ is, to despise his character, his virtue, in a disciple 
who happens to wear a different name from our own." — 
Ibid. pp. 223, '4. 

Again : we recognize the spirit of .the New Jeru- 
salem, its utter hostility to all bigotry and intoler- 
ance, its comprehensiveness, variety and universality, 
in passages like the following, which occur in this 
same discourse, and not unfrequently in other parts 
of his writings : 

" Think no man the better, no man the worse, for the 
17 N 



194 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

church he belongs to. Try him by his fruits. Expel 
from your breasts the demon of sectarianism, narrowness, 
bigotry, intolerance. This is not, as we are apt to think, 
a slight sin. It is a denial of the supremacy of goodness. 
It sets up something, whether a form or dogma, above the 
virtue of the heart and the life. Sectarianism immures 
itself in its particular church as in a dungeon \ and is there 
cut off from the free air, the cheerful light, the goodly 
prospects, the celestial beauty of the church universal. 

" My friends, I know that I am addressing those who 
hold various opinions as to the controverted points of 
theology. We have grown up under different influences. 
We bear different names. But if we purpose solemnly to 
do God's will, and are following the precepts and example 
of Christ, we are one church, and let nothing divide us. 
Diversities of opinion may incline us to worship under 
different roofs ; or diversities of tastes or habit, to worship 
with different forms. But these varieties are not schisms ; 
they do not break the unity of Christ's Church. We may 
still honor and love and rejoice in one another's spiritual 
life and progress, as truly as if we were cast into one and 
the same unyielding form. God loves variety in nature 
and in the human soul ; nor does he reject it in Christian 
worship. In many great truths, in those which are most 
quickening, purifying, and consoling, we all, I hope, 
agree. There is, too, a common ground of practice, aloof 
from all controversy, on which we may all meet. We 
may all unite heart and hands in doing good, in fulfilling 
God's purposes of love towards our race. 

"The angels and pure spirits who visit our earth come 
not to join a sect, but to do good to all. May this uni- 
versal charity descend on us, and possess our hearts ; may 
our narrowness, exclusiveness, and bigotry, melt away 



ROBERTSON. 1 95 

under this mild, celestial fire. Thus we shall not only 
join ourselves to Christ's Universal Church on earth, but 
to the Invisible Church, to the innumerable company of 
the just made perfect, in the mansions of everlasting purity 
and peace. " — Ibid. pp. 225, '6. 

And throughout the writings of this large-hearted, 
noble and sincere follower of Christ, we meet with 
the same sweet, inclusive and truly catholic spirit — 
the very spirit of the New Jerusalem. And some- 
times — as in the foregoing paragraphs — even his 
language is almost identical with that of Swedenborg 
when treating of the same subject. 



ROBERTSON. 

Another of the representative men of the last half 
century, and whose published works have earned for 
him a place by the side of the foremost religious 
thinkers and writers of the age, is Frederick W. 
Robertson, of England. Though a minister in the 
Anglican Church, he was emphatically a man of the 
New Times, and deeply imbued with the spirit of the 
New Jerusalem. Sincere, thoughtful, catholic, free, 
with a heart full of sympathy for every good cause, 
and a mind earnest in the pursuit of the highest 
truth, he endeared himself to Christians of every 
name, and of every grade in the social scale. Prob- 
ably no strictly religious works have been so much 
read and admired for the last fifteen years, as his. 
And Robertson's idea of the essence and unity of 
the church — of the one as consisting in love or 



I96 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

charity, and the other in the harmony of diverse ele- 
ments — is in perfect accord with what Swedenborg 
has told us of the New Jerusalem. And not only 
does he reckon love to God and the neighbor as the 
essential constituent of the church, but he tells us 
what this love is, and how it is obtained ; and here, 
too, he is in complete harmony with Swedenborg. 
He says : 

" The love of God is the love of goodness. God the 
Good One — personified goodness. There is in that der- 
ivation not a mere play of words, — there is a deep truth. 
No one loves God but he who loves good. To love 
God, is to love what God is. God is pure ; and he who 
loves purity can love God. God is true ; God is just ; 
and he who loves these things [truth and justice] out of 
God, may love them in God ; and God for them, because 
He is good and true and pure and just. None other love 
is real ; none else lasts 

" Here, however, let me* make a remark. The love of 
goodness only becomes real by doing good. Without this 
it remains merely a sickly sentiment. It gets body and 
reality by acting. . . . The love of God is the love of 
man expanded and purified. It is a deep truth that we 
cannot begin with loving God ; we must begin with loving 
man. . . . This is God's plan of nature. Our special human 
affections are given us to expand into a diviner charity. 
We are learning ' by a mortal yearning to ascend. ' Our 
affections wrap themselves around beings who are created 
in God's image ; then they expand — widen in their range; 
become less absorbed, more calm, less passionate, more 
philanthropic. They become more pure, less selfish. ' ' — 
Fifth Series, p. 60, 61. 



HOW TO ACQUIRE LOVE. IQ7 

Again he says : 

" We may cultivate this charity [or love] by doing acts 
which love demands. It is God's merciful law that feel- 
ings are increased by acts done on principle. If a man 
has not the feeling in its warmth, let him not wait till the 
feeling comes. Let him act with such feelings as he 
has ; with a cold heart, if he has not got a warm one ; it 
will grow warmer while he acts. ... If our hearts are cool, 
and we find it hard to love God and be affectionate to 
men, we must begin with duty. Duty is not Christian 
liberty, but it is the first step towards liberty. We are free 
only when we love what we are to do, and those to whom 
we do it. Let a man begin in earnest with, I ought — and 
he will end, by God's grace, if he persevere, with the free 
blessedness of, I will. Let him force himself to abound 
in small offices of kindliness, attention, affectionateness, 
and all these for God's sake ; and by and by he will feel 
them become the habit of his soul. By and by, walking 
in the conscientiousness of refusing to retaliate when he 
feels tempted, he will cease to wish it ; doing good to 
and heaping kindness on those who injure him, he will 
learn to love them." — Ibid. p. 195, '6. 

And his idea of a living and spiritual unity among 
Christians, as consisting not in sameness but in 
manifoldness — in the harmony of varieties — is pre- 
cisely Swedenborg's idea of unity in the New Jeru- 
salem and in the heaven of angels. (See Chapter 
VIII.) He says : 

"Men have formed to themselves two ideas of unity: 
the first is a sameness of form — of expression ; the second, 
an identity of spirit [or purpose]. Some of the best of 
mankind have fondly hoped to realize a unity for the 



I98 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

church of Christ, which should be manifested by uniform 
expressions in everything. Their imaginations have loved 
to paint, as the ideal of a Christian Church, a state in 
which the same liturgy should be used throughout the 
world, the same ecclesiastical government, even the same 
vestments, the same canonical hours, the same form of 
architecture. They could conceive nothing more entirely 
one, than a Church so constituted that the same prayers, 
in the very same expressions, at the very same moment, 
should be ascending to the Eternal Ear. There are others 
[and the author is one of them] who have thrown aside 
entirely this idea as chimerical ; who have not only ceased 
to hope it, but even to wish it ; who, if it could be realized, 
would consider it a matter of regret \ who feel that the 
minds of men are various — their modes and habits of 
thought, their original capacities and acquired associations, 
infinitely diverse ; and who, perceiving that the law of the 
universal system is manifoldness in unity, have ceased to 
expect any other oneness of the church of Christ than 
that of a sameness of spirit, showing itself through diver- 
sities of gifts. 

"All living unity is spiritual, not formal; not sameness, 
but manifoldness. You may have a unity shown in iden- 
tity of form ; but it is a lifeless unity. There is a same- 
ness on the sea-beach, — that unity which the ocean waves 
have produced by curling and forcibly destroying the an- 
gularities of individual form, so that every stone presents 
the same monotony of aspect, and you must fracture each 
again in order to distinguish whether you hold in your 
hand a mass of flint or fragment of basalt. There is no 
life in unity such as this. 

" But as soon as you arrive at a unity that is living, the 
form becomes more complex, and you search in vain for 



HENRY WARD BEE CHER. 1 99 

uniformity. In the parts, it must be found, if found at 
all, in the sameness of the pervading life. The illustra- 
tion given by the apostle is that of the human body — a 
higher unity, he says, by being composed of many [and 
different] members, than if every member were but a 
repetition of a single type. . . . 

" What is the body's unity? Is it not this : The unity 
of a living consciousness which marvelously animates 
every separate atom of the frame, and reduces each to the 
performance of a function fitted to the welfare of the 
whole, — its own, not another's? so that the inner spirit 
can say of the remotest and in form most unlike member, 
' That, too, is myself.' " — Third Series, p. 86-89. 

BEE CHER. 

Another representative man and minister of these 
New Times, is Henry Ward Beecher. He is prob- 
ably the most gifted, as he certainly is the most 
popular, living preacher to-day on either continent. 
No other minister has so large a following as he ; 
no other reaches with his spoken and printed sermons, 
so large a multitude of thoughtful people ; no other 
is listened to with such rapt attention, or exerts so 
wide and mighty an influence. A Trinitarian Con- 
gregationalist by profession, he is nevertheless free 
from everything like bigotry or sectarianism, and is 
ready to fellowship Christians of every name and 
creed, if they bear even a faint image of the Master, 
or give evidence of sincere devotion to his cause. 

And what is Mr. Beecher's testimony on the sub- 
ject before us ? What does he regard as the chief 



200 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

constituent of the true church of Christ? — as that 
for which all organized religious societies exist, and 
by the side of which all external forms and ordinances 
are utterly insignificant? Let him answer for him- 
self. He says: 

"Among all sects and churches of Christendom, under 
all doctrinal forms, and amidst various and diverse organ- 
izations, they are blessed who love the Lord Jesus Christ 
in sincerity. . . . All religion that fails to produce love, 
is imperfect and so far false. Love to Christ is the one 
indispensable element. Everything gained but this, and 
religion is like the gold setting from which the diamond 
has dropped out. It is not only important, but precious. 
It is so vital that, if it be present — this true love — it 
carries with it all privilege, all promise and all prerogative. 
If it be absent, it cannot be made up. There is no 
equivalent nor substitute for it. All is void if there be 
not love. 

"A religion which results in true and abiding love, no 
matter how it expresses itself, no matter how heretical it 
is, no matter how it is organized, no matter what ordi- 
nances are present and what are absent — such a religion 
is divine ; and all that profess it and have it — grace be 
upon them. They love the Lord Jesus Christ with incor- 
ruptible, undying love. And no matter how pompous, 
nor how long descended, nor how much defended, nor 
how far in every respect reverend and catholic a church 
is, if it fails in its doctrines or its ordinances or its methods 
to produce love, it is invalid ; it is useless. For that is 
the bright centre toward which everything must aim, and 
which everything must reach if it is to be effectual. 

"The human soul without personal union with God, is 
sunless and summerless, and can never blossom or ripen. 



BEECHEIUON THE POJVER OF LOVE. 201 

. . . Love as a disposition, as a constant mood, has a 
welding power which can bring the soul to God, and fix 
it there. Finding Him, it can bring the soul into com- 
munion with Him, so that there shall be a personal con- 
nection between the divine nature and the human nature. 
There is no one who may not rise up into union with God 
by the power of love. That is the wing which will carry 
the soul safely through the wide distance ; and there is no 
other wing that can beat its way there. 

" This is the doctrine which blazes throughout Christ's 
teachings. It is the interpretation that he gave of the 
whole law, that it meant nothing but love — love to God 
and- love to man. And that sublimest didactic psalm that 
was ever chanted through the ages — the thirteenth chap- 
ter of ist Corinthians — is to the same purport. Without 
love every other grace and every other attainment is void. 

"If these things be so, then the love -producing power 
is the test and criterion of all theologies and all churches 
and all ordinances. We have been accustomed to search 
for these things on the side of reason. We have sought 
by logic and philosophy to settle the relative merits of 
different beliefs and different organizations. And we have 
failed. 

" The true church is the one which has in it the divine 
art of producing love, and that continuously. It matters 
not whether your ordinances were ever thought of by the 
apostles. An ordinance is a good one if it lead you to 
love. . . . On the other hand, bring your hoary ceremo- 
nials of eighteen hundred years' pilgrimage, and show 
that ages and ages have passed over them — they are of no 
value except for what they can do. And what they can 
do is of no account if they cannot do this highest thing — 
create love " — Sermon on the Power of Love — Plymouth 
Pulpit (1869), p. 439-443- 



202 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

"Aman's salvation does not depend on his creed — 
though a creed is of a great deal of consequence ; but love 
is of a great deal more consequence ; and if there be but 
one, it is infinitely better that it should be love. The 
marrow of a true religion is love. And whether a man be 
high-church or low-church or new-church or no-church ; 
whether he hold this creed or that creed or no creed, if 
he has this saving power of love in the soul, grace be 
upon him." — Ibid. p. 445. 

Thus earnestly and eloquently does the great 
Brooklyn preacher proclaim the supreme impor- 
tance and majestic power of love. And substantially 
the same thought — though not often so fully ex- 
pressed — runs like a thread of gold through nearly 
all of his discourses. If any one thinks him extrav- 
agant in his expressions, or that he extols love 
more highly than he ought, let him turn to and read 
the thirteenth chapter of Paul's first epistle to the 
Corinthians, beginning with, 

" Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding 
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the 
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and 
all knowledge; and though I have faith so that I 
could remove mountains, and have not love, it 
pronteth me nothing. And though I bestow all my 
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body 
to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me 
nothing: " — 

And ending with the concise but explicit declara- 
tion : " And now abideth faith, hope, love — these 
three ; but the greatest of these is love." 



BEECHEFS IDEA OF THE CHURCH. 203 

And Mr. Beecher, in the same excellent discourse, 
gives us his idea of the nature and whereabouts of 
the Lord's true church — its catholicity, diversity, 
invisibility and unity ; and shows that this church as 
he views it, is identical with the Apocalyptic New 
Jerusalem as explained by Swedenborg, and set 
forth in these pages. He says : 

" When we come to be released from the narrowness of 
our own church and of our own sect, how joyful is the 
brotherhood of good men ! and how strong are we ! We 
are apt to suppose that Christ's church is identical with 
our sect. When we are looking abroad and measuring 
the progress of Christianity, we are perpetually tempted to 
selfishness and conceit. It is the progress of the Baptist 
Church, or of the Methodist Church, or of the Presby- 
terian Church, or of the Congregational churches, that in- 
spires in us the conviction that Christ's kingdom is growing. 

"But take a larger look. Wherever, under any name, 
men love Christ and their fellow-men, they are Christ's 
and are spreading Christ's kingdom. And how glorious 
is the church of God now upon the earth ! Not that nar- 
row, contending church which the eye can see ; not that 
church upon which you can put the arithmetic, and which 
you can measure ; not that church whose cathedrals and 
buildings you can behold — not that is the church of 
God : but that larger church which is invisible. That is 
the only true church. The outward church as men look 
upon it, is split up, and is pursuing a various contro- 
versy with diverse weapons. But there is a church wherein 
there is harmony; and that is the invisible church which 
is made up of good men. It is that church which is made 
up of the concurring hearts of those who love the Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. 



204 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

" Love every good man. Trust every good man. Draw 
him to you. And little by little, as this greater power of 
the greater sympathy of the reigning love comes to have 
freedom, and we think less of the things in which we dis- 
agree, and co-operate more in the things in which we agree, 
there will rise up a consciousness of a common bond which 
will make these divisions utterly impossible. 

"It is the bad conduct of men who are sectarians, and 
not the fact that they have separate organizations, that 
makes them malignant and mischievous. And in the sum- 
mer that is coming, men who love Christ and each other 
will be united ; so that, though they stand severally in 
their own peculiarities of doctrines, and ordinances, and 
governments, and administrations, they yet will be in 
harmony one with another. And the world will rejoice in 
this great, one, though invisible, church of Christ Jesus." 
— Ibid. 448, '9. 

These extracts are sufficient to show us that the 
great Brooklyn preacher's idea of the true church — 
including its chief constituent, its catholicity, its 
diversity, its unity, and its invisibility — is identical 
with Swedenborg's idea of the New Jerusalem as 
exhibited in the foregoing pages. 



SCUDDER. 

We find a similar idea of the church presented in 
an interesting address by Rev. Henry M. Scudder, 
D. D., at the last annual meeting of the American 
Congregational Union in New York. The fact that 
Dr. Scudder was chosen to preside over that distin- 
guished body, shows him to be a representative 



SCUDDER ON CHRISTIAN UNITY. 205 

man ; and we may conclude, therefore, that the views 
he expressed in his opening address, were those 
generally entertained by the more advanced think- 
ers among the clergy present on that occasion. The 
Doctor, as reported in the New York Independent for 
May 15th, said: 

"While this Congregational Union has, from its high 
place, ever sounded the silver trumpet of the annual jubi- 
lee, it has likewise ever set before itself a still higher aim. 
It has come forth as a yearly witness of Christian union. 

" Now what is this Christian unity about which they 
talk so much? It is not the fusion of great denominations 
into one common mass. The crucible cannot be made 
into which all denominations shall be fused ; and the 
chemist cannot be found who shall reduce them into one 
undistinguishable lump. Neither is it like an amalgam 
of one denomination into another, like the amalgam of 
mercury into bismuth. Neither is Christian unity to be 
obtained by one denomination absorbing all the others ; 
which is a dream entertained by some people. It is a 
dream never to be realized. None of the existing church 
bodies can ever so prevail as to incorporate the others. 
Neither is Christian unity absolute unanimity. You can- 
not make all men think alike, any more than two musical 
instruments will sound alike. Variety is the very basis of 
harmony ; you cannot have harmony without having vari- 
ety as its basis. So I would not wish men to think alike. 
But musical instruments may be made to sound in unison. 
That is what we want — Christian unison, and not monot- 
onous unanimity. That is what I understand by Christian 
unity. It is that unity that all acknowledge, not with re- 
luctance, but with a great deal of pleasure — the separate 
existence of each denomination, its individuality, its 
18 



206 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

integrity, its importance. It is like a garden which has a 
great many plants in it. They are very unlike each other; 
but what are they doing ? Why, they are each, according 
to its capacity, trying to catch as much of the sunbeams 
as they can, to transfer into buds and blossoms, flowers 
and fruits. Denominations are the plants, and Christian 
unity is the unity of that garden presided over by the 
great husbandman. . . . 

"According to the present scientific theory, all of the 
planets came out of the sun. That central orb sent off 
ring after ring, and these consolidated into planets, and 
then, moving within the influence of their common origin, 
they swing without collision around the grand common 
centre of the sun itself. So should not the denominational 
planets also swing without collision around their great 
common Centre, the Sun of Righteousness, our glorious 
Lord Jesus Christ himself? .... 

"While, therefore, denominationalism is natural, and, 
as I believe, necessary; while it is effective and quite 
consistent with Christian unity, sectarianism is a different 
thing, hateful and to be hated. It is an excrescence that 
ought to be cut off and flung away. 

"I am a surgeon as well as a clergyman, and when 
working in India as a missionary I had a hospital, in which 
I performed a great many operations. I was one day per- 
forming an operation. It was a beautiful day, and I 
thought I would do it out of doors. I placed'the patient, 
who was afflicted with a cancer, on a table. I separated 
the cancer from the body, and laid it down. No sooner 
had I done that than I was startled suddenly, and struck 
by a pair of huge wings. A keen-eyed, hungry hawk had 
watched me while I was operating on it, and had so accu- 
rately timed it that he swept down upon it at the very in- 



SCUDDER ON SECTARIANISM. 207 

stant I laid it on the table, and carried it off in his talons. 
He was welcome to it. I rejoiced in the thought that 
it gave him the colic and saved me the trouble of bury- 
ing it. 

" So, if any ecclesiastical hawk wants the cancer of sec- 
tarianism, let him have it. He is thoroughly welcome to 
it. Get men to cut it out, and it will save them the 
trouble of burying it. We, therefore, come to this con- 
clusion, that, while we are determined to hold fast to our 
several denominations, we purpose to do it without any 
sectarian spirit. We purpose to have the fellowship of 
soul, the harmony of love with all who love the Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. ' ' 

Here, again, we have Swedenborg's idea of the 
New Jerusalem, as a church consisting of all who 
acknowledge and love the Lord Jesus Christ, "the 
common Centre, the Sun of Righteousness ; " com- 
prehensive in its nature; catholic in its spirit; free 
from the corroding cancer of sectarianism ; diverse 
in its elements as the blossoms in a garden of 
flowers ; yet all sweetly and harmoniously chiming, 
like the different instruments in a band of music. 

SIMONDS. 

And in the great Methodist denomination, there 
are at this time not a few leading minds whose idea 
of the true church is similar to that of the distin- 
guished men already quoted. I shall adduce the 
testimony of only one — Rev. S. D. Simonds of San 
Francisco : — not because he is the best representa- 
tive of that denomination, but because his views 



208 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

upon the subject under consideration happen to be 
easier of access than those of others equally distin- 
guished ; and because I wish to say that one of such 
signal ability, such purity and integrity of character, 
such lofty purpose, and such noble self-consecration 
to the Master's cause, deserves to be more widely 
known. 

Mr. Simonds is, and has been since the date of 
its organization, the President of "the Missionary 
Christian Union" of California, organized in 1870, 
with a Constitution which every religious society in 
the land might adopt with large profit. I quote 
from three of its articles which reveal the truly 
Christian spirit of the organization. 

" Art. II. The objects of this Society shall be, to unite 
in Christian fellowship, on the sole basis of love to God 
and the neighbor, to maintain the living character of 
Revelation, and to publish more widely the everlasting 
Gospel (Rev. xiv. 6, 7). 

"Art. III. Any person who acknowledges the follow- 
ing to be the commands of God : ' Hear, O Israel ; the 
Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the first 
commandment. And the second is like this : Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself (Mark xii. 29-31) — may be- 
come a member of this Society by signing the Constitu- 
tion. 

"Art. VII. Although this Society admits of no doc- 
trinal tests [beyond that referred to in Art. II.], it will 
operate harmoniously with all denominations inspired by 
a true catholicity, knowing that doctrine, the same as 



SIM ONUS IDEA OF IT. 20Q 

knowledge, is the subject of growth, and that man must 
be in freedom in order to his salvation." 

This " Christian Union " soon after its organiza- 
tion, established a small but intrinsically valuable 
monthly publication, called The Living Way, of 
which Mr. Simonds has been sole editor from the 
commencement. And in his first article (Jan. 1870), 
he gives us his idea of the true church and its foun- 
dation or chief constituent. He says : 

" There is something imperfect in our method, it seems, 
which it becomes every thoughtful, earnest Christian mind 
to consider. Is it not in the effort to build the church on 
doctrine — not on love? It is certain that at present 
there is a vast portion of the world which is not reached 
by the organized churches, and a large class of minds 
which is not fed but repelled by the prominence of doc- 
trinal statements. Abraham Lincoln was once asked why 
he never united with any church ? He replied : ' I never 
yet was able to find a church with which I agreed in all 
its doctrinal statements, and so I never united with any. 
If I could find a church based entirely on the love of God 
and the neighbor, I would gladly unite with it. ' 

" The true church is as invisible as God is, for it is indeed 
His body — ' the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' It 
is built up from His inward life. That alone is the true 
church which is in man. It is like Christ. ' I am the 
vine, ye are the branches.' The branches can no more 
be seen than can the vine itself. But the true church is 
just as visible in man as God is. God is seen in his works. 
So is man. Wisdom and love are manifest in his life. 
We can get into this true church, only by getting the 
church into us. No mere human being stands at the 
18* 



210 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

portal. Christ says: 'I am the door,' (John x.) By 
having Christ in us, that is, his spirit, his nature, we have 
the door, and enter in and are saved. 

" To come out of one external church [#. e. sect] and 
go into another, is not to flee out of Babylon, and enter 
no more into her. No : I should say to most men (if they 
could, conscientiously) : Remain where you are in the 
outward, but be sure that you march with all your power 
to the Jerusalem of love — to the living Church which 
cometh down 'from God out of heaven, adorned as a 
bride for her husband,' and abide there forever! Yet 
there is, perhaps, no single rule that will apply to all 
cases. 

"It is only from the wonderful vitality that God has 
given to the heart, that there has been any religion left 
among men. Art is having a new genesis, and comes forth 
in the love of nature to elevate mankind by its ceaseless 
studies and varieties. So should the Church now build 
only on love to God and the neighbor, and allow all pos- 
sible varieties of statement which breathe the spirit of 
love." 

Here, again, we have the true church represented 
as " a city of pure gold," coupled also with the idea 
of invisibility, catholicity and endless diversity. 

M'lL VAINE. 

The late Bishop Mcllvaine delivered a discourse 
in Philadelphia some thirty years ago on "The Holy 
Catholic Church," which gave so great satisfaction 
to his hearers, that a copy of it was immediately re- 
quested for publication,— those requesting it saying 
in their letter to the Bishop: "The undersigned take 



BISHOP JkTIL VAINE'S IDEA OF IT. 211 

this opportunity to express to you the sense of their 
obligation for this addition to the treasures of the 
Holy Catholic Church." And in this discourse the 
author gives us his idea of the true church of Christ 
in passages like the following — which show that he 
regarded it not as a visible organization, but " the 
communion of saints spread over all the world : " 

"A mere professor of religion, a mere thing of ordi- 
nances, without Christ dwelling in him by His Spirit, — - 
what Bishop Taylor calls the mere ' outsides ' of the church, 
— can have no membership in Christ's true Church, can 
make no part of God's Temple. The mind of Christ 
must be also in us — we must be like Him. ' If any man 
have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' If none 
of his, then none of his body, none of his Temple. Each 
of us must be himself, 'the temple of the Holy Ghost,' 
before he can be built up in that spiritual house which is 
the church of God, 'the blessed company (as our com- 
munion office defines it) of all faithful people.' " — p. 18. 

"A most interesting and important question [that of the 
relation we bear to believers in other ecclesiastical con- 
nections]. It is precisely the question of our Lord : 
' Who are my brethren ? He that doeth the will of my 
Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother and 
sister and brother,' — We ask the same — Who are our 
brethren ? Who belong to the communion of saints, that 
Holy Catholic Church which we believe in as the mystical 
body of Christ ? We answer : Every soul of man that 
hath a living faith in Him, wherever found, whatever 
called. There is no difference here. Diversity of out- 
ward and visible church-institutions, doubtless makes a 
great difference of privilege and of benefit. But it makes 
no difference in the reality and perfectness of spiritual 



2 1 2 THE G OLDEN CITY. 

union to Christ and to His Temple — His living Church." 

— P- 53- 

"The more I stand on this ground, with respect to 
separate ecclesiastical organizations, the more I love to 
believe that in those separated and conflicting visible 
churches, there are individuals (a great multitude, I trust) 
who are, alike with us, united to Christ, my Lord and 
Life, by a living faith; and therefore united to me, as 
brethren in the family of God, and united to the whole 
Catholic Church and Communion of Saints, as members 
of Christ and his kingdom." — p. 55. 

"We call all professing Christians the visible church, 
and only real Christians the invisible church. . . . The 
visible church is the church as seen of men, in the mixed 
mass of the true and the false, the genuine and the coun- 
terfeit, people of God. The invisible church is the church 
as seen only of God, in the unmixed company of all His 
faithful people. The one is that great flock gathered to- 
gether by the call of the Gospel, from all parts of the 
earth, ... in which the sheep of his pasture are mingled 
with the goats that know Him not, and are none of his ; 
all, however, visibly, that is, professedly, his flock. The 
other is simply so much of that mixed multitude as do 
truly hear the voice of the Shepherd, and follow Him, and 
unto whom He giveth eternal life." — p. 29, 30. 

And in an Appendix, the Bishop cites, in justifica- 
tion or corroboration of his view, the authority of 
such distinguished men as Archbishops Cranmer 
and Usher, Bishops Ridley, Hall and Taylor, Drs. 
Perkins, Jackson and Barrow, and the eminent and 
scholarly Hooker. And he adds that " among these 
great writers — representatives of all classes of 
English divines, of the times in which they lived — 



CAIRD S IDEA OF RELIGION. 213 

there was not the least difference of opinion on the 
points now in view." 

CAIRD. 

Perhaps no sermon of modern times has been 
more widely circulated or highly commended — and 
certainly no one has merited higher commendation 
— than that by Rev. John Caird, entitled " Religion 
in Common Life." It was first " preached before her 
Majesty the Queen and Prince Albert" in 1856, and 
published by her Majesty's command. It was soon 
after republished and widely circulated in this coun- 
try ; and more recently has been issued as a tract by 
the American Tract Society. And the essential 
nature of the true church and of true religion, as 
presented in this admirable discourse, is identical 
with what Swedenborg taught more than a hundred 
years ago, and with what he says the New Jerusalem 
of the Apocalypse typified and foreshadowed. Take, 
for example, his definition of religion ; and compare 
it with Swedenborg's, where he tells us that " all 
religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is 
to do good!' Mr. Caird says : 

"Religion is the art of being and of doing good. To 
be an adept in it, is to become just, truthful, sincere, self- 
denied, gentle, forbearing, pure in word and thought and 
deed. And the school for learning this art, is not the 
closet but the world ; not some hallowed spot where reli- 
gion is taught, and proficients when duly trained are sent 
forth into the world, but the world itself — the coarse, 
profane, common world, with its cares and temptations, 



214 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

its rivalries and competitions, its hourly, ever-recurring 
trials of temper and character. This is, therefore, an art 
which all can practise, and for which every profession and 
calling, the busiest and most absorbing, afford scope and 
discipline. When a child is learning to write, it matters 
not of what words the copy set to him is composed ; the 
thing desired being that whatever he writes he learn to 
write well. When a man is learning to be a Christian, it 
matters not what his particular work in life may be ; the 
work he does is but the copy-line set to him ; the main 
thing to be considered is that he learn to live well.'' 1 

And while admitting the importance of " prayer, 
holy reading, meditation, the solemnities and services 
of the church," he considers these of no account any 
further than they promote the great end of all reli- 
gion — charity, or right living. He says : 

" They are but steps in the ladder to heaven — good 
only as they help us to climb. They are the irrigation and 
enriching of the spiritual soil — worse than useless if the 
crop become not more abundant. They are, in short, but 
means to an end — good only in so far as they help us to 
be good and to do good, to glorify God and do good to 
man ; and that end can perhaps best be attained by him 
whose life is a busy one, whose avocations bear him daily 
into contact with his fellows, into the intercourse of soci- 
ety, into the heart of the world." 

And throughout this discourse the thought is 
equally just and elevated, and the expression equally 
graceful. I will cite one other passage. 

"To promote the cause of Christ directly, by furthering 
every religious and missionary enterprise at home and 
abroad, is undoubtedly your duty; but remember, that 



CAIRDS IDEA OF RELIGION 215 

your duty terminates not when you have done all this, for 
you may promote Christ's cause even still more effectually 
when, in your daily demeanor, in the family, in society, 
in your business transactions, in all your common inter- 
course with the world, you are diffusing the influence of 
Christian principle around you by the silent eloquence of 
a holy life. Rise superior, in Christ's strength, to all 
equivocal practices and advantages in trade ; shrink from 
every approach to meanness or dishonesty ; let your eye, 
fixed on a reward before which earthly wealth grows dim, 
beam with honor ; let the thought of God make you self- 
restrained, temperate, watchful over speech and conduct ; 
let -the abiding sense of Christ's redeeming love to you 
make you gentle, self-denied, kind, and loving to all 
around you : then indeed will your secular life become 
spiritualized, while at the same time your spiritual life will 
grow more fervent ; then not only will your prayers become 
more devout, but when the knee bends not, and the lip is 
silent, the life in its heavenward tone will * pray without 
ceasing ; ' then from amidst the roar and din of earthly 
toil, the ear of God will hear the sweetest anthems rising. ' ' 

Here love of God and the neighbor, expressed in 
our daily demeanor and ordinary business transac- 
tions, is presented as the chief element in religion — 
the essential constituent of the true church. Where 
will you find any such idea of religion as this, prior 
to Swedenborg's time ? But he wrote : 

"The life which leads to heaven is not a life of retire- 
ment from the world, but of action in the world. A life 
of piety, without a life of charity which can only be ac- 
quired in the world, does not lead to heaven, but a life of 
charity does; and this consists in acting sincerely and 



2l6 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

justly in every vocation, in every transaction and in every 
work." — H, H. 533. 

And how often does he tell us that love to the 
Lord and the neighbor is the very essence of the 
church ! and that to love the Lord is to live accord- 
ing to his precepts ! and that love to the neighbor, 
consists in acting towards all men from the love of 
what is j ust, sincere and right ; or from the love of being 
useful ; or in carrying the spirit and precepts of the 
Gospel into all the transactions of our every-day life 
— which is precisely Mr. Caird's idea of "religion in 
common life." 

FATHER HYACINTHE. 

And even in the Church of Rome, where we 
should least expect it, the broad and catholic view 
or something closely allied to it, is beginning to find 
utterance through some of the great leaders of " the 
Old Catholic Church," or party of reform. Con- 
spicuous among these stands Father Hyacinthe, 
whose idea of the catholicity, charity, breadth, unity 
yet diversity of " the Church of the Future," may be 
gathered from the following extracts from his article 
on this subject published a few months ago in the 
New York Independent (Feb. 20, 1873). 

"It is full time," he says, "to show that in the depths 
of every conscience that is earnestly and loyally Christian, 
there is a Catholicism and a Protestantism — both equally 
legitimate, equally essential ; and that the Church of the 
Future — that Church which is even now emerging from 
the dark clouds which have hidden her from view, that 



FATHER HYACINTHE'S VIEW. 217 

Church which will be neither Catholic nor Protestant in 
the narrow sense of these terms — shall in their wider 
sense, their higher and nobler sense, be at once Protestant 
and Catholic. - 

"The Church of the Future will be Protestant; for she 
will have broken with all the false traditions of the past, 
with those doctrines and commandments of men which 
among Christians, as amongst the Jews, so readily super- 
sede God's Word. That Church will be more Protestant 
even than Protestants ; for she will protest against all error 
— your error, as well as ours — and in that protest will join 
not only three centuries, dating from Luther, but all the 
centuries from the time of St. Paul and of Christ himself. 
Whilst accepting whatever is genuine and fruitful of good 
in the limited protest to which you owe your name, the 
Church of the Future will make that protest broader, com- 
bining it with the Catholic protest of countless great minds 
and of countless saints. 

" The Church of the Future will be Protestant ; but she 
will be Catholic still more. Protestantism means war, 
Catholicism peace ; and, therefore, when the battle is over 
Catholicism alone will remain ; ' for behold I create new 
heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be re- 
membered nor come into mind. ' The name of the Church 
of the Future will be Catholic — a name consecrated by the 
creeds, that of the Apostles as well as that of Nicsea. ' I 
believe in the Holy Catholic Church.' This is the name 
of unity, and for this reason it should be most dear to us ; 
and I pity the man who, having once known its signifi- 
cance, should utter it without emotion. It says to us — 
that redoubtable name, which is at the same time a name 
full of sweetness ; that name which is a sentence of con- 
demnation against us all, and yet which will save us all — 
19 



2 1 8 THE G OLDEN CITY. 

it says to us that we were not intended to be forever di- 
vided by diversity of tongues and by mutual antagonisms ; 
that we mistook for a law of our nature that which was but 
the result of our sins, and that we are all most surely called 
to believe and adore and work together. 

" The Church of the Future will know nothing of such 
divisions, such discordances [as have hitherto existed], and 
she will uphold the freedom of theologies and the diversity 
of rites in the unity of one faith and of one worship. . . . 
She will be called neither Roman nor Greek, neither 
Lutheran nor Calvinistic. Making common cause only 
with the human race itself, she will bring about upon earth 
the realization of the society of man with God. ' Behold 
the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with 
them ; and they shall be his people and He shall be their 
God.' " 

The large, free and catholic spirit of the New 
Jerusalem, is clearly discernible here. And while 
the invisibility of the true church is not distinctly 
affirmed, it is clearly implied. And although its 
essential constituent is not emphasized or dwelt 
upon, it is plain that the diversity and unity which 
are expected, cannot exist unless charity be held as 
the primary thing. 

THE NE W YORK INDEPENDENT. 

And the same enlarged and catholic view of the 
church has been often put forth in leading and in- 
fluential journals within the last half century. The 
New York Independent, one of the ablest and widest 
circulated religious weeklies in America, says in an 
article on "the Church of Christ" (Oct. 25, 1855): 



THE NE W YORK INDEPENDENT. 2 1 9 

" Nothing is clearer from the Word of God than that 
there can be no salvation for man out of the ' Holy Cath- 
olic Church.' By the church here we mean the aggregate 
of all real Christians ; all branches of the true vine ; all 
who are united to Christ by a living faith, and who are 
joint heirs with Him to the heavenly inheritance. It is 
the Church Invisible, and includes all true Christians, of 
whatever denomination, age, or country; and it includes 
no others. Vital union with Christ is absolutely necessary 
in order to membership. Profession here, avails nothing; 
union with Christ, everything. All the members of this 
Church have been born of the same Spirit, are all united 
to the same Head, and have one spiritual communion and 
fellowship." 

THE EDINB URGH RE VIE W. 

And still more explicit and inspired by the same 
catholic spirit, is the following from the " Edinburgh 
Review" (July, 1841): 

" Is there not a church as pure and more catholic than 
that of Oxford or Rome? — a church comprehending 
within its limits every human being who, according to 
the measure of the knowledge placed within his reach, 
strives habitually to be conformed to the will of the com- 
mon Father of us all ? To indulge hope beyond the pale 
of some narrow communion, has, by each Christian society 
in its turn, been denounced as a daring presumption. Yet 
hope has come to all ; and with her, faith and charity, her 
inseparable companions. Amidst the shock of contending 
creeds, and the uproar of anathemas, they who have ears 
to hear and hearts to understand, have listened to gentler 
and more kindly sounds. Good men may debate as po- 
lemics, but they will feel as Christians. On the universal 



220 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

mind of Christendom is indelibly engraven one image, 
towards which the eyes of all are more or less earnestly 
directed. Whoever has himself caught any resemblance, 
however faint and imperfect, to that divine and benignant 
Original, has, in his measure, learned to recognize a brother 
wherever he can discern the same resemblance. 

" There is an essential unity in that kingdom which is 
not of this world. But within the provinces of that mighty 
state there is room for endless varieties of administration, 
and for local laws and customs widely differing from each 
other. . . . Uniformity of creeds, of discipline, of ritual, 
and of ceremonies, in such a world as ours ! — a world 
where no two men are not as distinguishable in their 
mental as in their physical aspect ! where every petty 
community has its separate system of civil government ; 
where all that meets the eye and all that arrests the ear, 
has the stamp of boundless and infinite variety ! What 
are the harmonies of tone, of color, and of form, but the 
result of contrasts ? of contrasts held in subordination to 
one pervading principle, which reconciles without con- 
founding the component elements of the music, the paint- 
ing or the structure ? In the physical works of God, beauty 
could have no existence without endless diversities. Why 
assume that in religious society — a work not less surely to 
be ascribed to the supreme Author of all things — this law 
is absolutely reversed ? Were it possible to subdue that 
innate tendency of the human mind which compels men 
to differ in religious opinions and observances, at least as 
widely as on all other subjects, what would be the results 
of such a triumph ? Where would then be the free com- 
parison and the continual enlargement of thought? Where 
the self-distrusts which are the springs of humility, or the 
mutual dependences which are the bonds of love? He 



THE EDINB UR GH RE VIE W. 221 

who made us with this infinite variety in our intellectual 
and physical constitution, must have foreseen, and fore- 
seeing, must have intended a corresponding dissimilarity 
in the opinions of His creatures on all questions submitted 
to their judgment and proposed for their acceptance. For 
truth is His law ; and if all will profess to think alike, all 
must live in the habitual violation of it." 

Such is the strong and concurrent testimony of 
these independent witnesses. We have here the 
clearly expressed views of representative men and 
journals in no less than six of the great religious 
denominations ; — men and journals that may be 
ranked among the leaders of religious thought in 
these New Times. And with respect to the Lord's 
true church, its unity, variety, invisibility and essen- 
tial constituents, they are emphatically "of one lip 
and their words one ; " the spiritual meaning of 
which Scripture is thus explained by Swedenborg : 

"All are 'of one lip and their words one,' when they 
are principled in one doctrine in general and in particular. 
And the doctrine is one when all are principled in mutual 
love or charity, which produces unity even among varie- 
ties, uniting them into one ; for however great the numbers, 
if they be all principled in charity or mutual love, they 
all have one end, viz. the common good, the kingdom of 
the Lord and the Lord himself; in which case the varie- 
ties in matters of doctrine and worship, are like the vari- 
eties of the senses and viscera in man, which constitute 
the perfection of the whole." — A. C, 1285. 
19* 



XIII. 

SOME PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 

IT has been shown in the foregoing pages that 
the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse is the 
Lord's true church or kingdom on earth ; that it is 
not and never can be a sect, or a visibly organized 
body ; that only the Lord himself knows who really 
belong to it, since He only knows the internal qual- 
ity of men ; that the understanding or intellectual 
reception of ever so many and ever so pure truths, is 
no evidence of membership in this church; that the 
belief or oral profession, on the other hand, of ever 
so great falsities, is no evidence that a person does 
not belong to it; and that, instead of one uniform 
type of religious character — one particular form of 
faith, one mode of worship, one kind of adminis- 
tration and discipline — there is, on the contrary, 
in the church of the New Jerusalem, that end- 
less diversity which characterizes all the works of 
God. 

Assuming these several points to have been suf- 
ficiently demonstrated, let us see what practical 
inferences are to be drawn from the view herein 
presented, — for if it be the true one, it must be of 
some practical moment. 



FATAL TO THE SECT SPIRIT 223 

DISCOURAGES THE SPIRIT OF SECT. 

I. First, we see that its obvious tendency is to 
discourage and overcome the spirit of sect, and to 
foster a large and catholic spirit akin to that of the 
Divine Master. It allows no one to encourage him- 
self in the belief that he belongs to the Lord's true 
church because he believes the true doctrine, or is 
connected with some organization that bears the 
name of the New Jerusalem. Nor does it encourage 
the idea that we are necessarily nearer to the Lord 
and heaven than others, because of our purer doc- 
trinal beliefs or our external church relations. 

It is not, however, to be denied that a person may 
receive higher instruction in spiritual things, and thus 
be more profited, in some religious organizations 
than in others ; for some organizations are in a 
higher and more enlightened state than others, and 
are able therefore to communicate more of heavenly 
light and life. But the view of the New Jerusalem 
as presented in these pages, is utterly opposed to 
everything like sectarianism. It has in it nothing 
of the spirit of sect. It tends to lessen our regard 
for mere names, and to increase our regard for the 
substantial and enduring realities of heaven. It is 
not belligerent or repellant in its nature, but peaceful 
and attractive, as love always is. It tends to join in 
fraternal union the souls of all good people, and this, 
too, without the least interference with their external 
church relations. While, therefore, it is in complete 
harmony with the large and comprehensive spirit of 



224 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

the Gospel, it is seen to be utterly opposed to the 
narrow and sundering spirit of sect. 

INFERENCE TOUCHING THE ORDINANCES. 

2. If the view presented is to be accepted as the 
true one, then they who acknowledge the doctrines 
of the New Church as taught by Swedenborg, and 
have united in a separate organization, have not on 
this account alone any valid claim to be considered 
the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem ; 
for truth of doctrine is not the vital principle or chief 
constituent of this church. Nor have tfyey any pecu- 
liar or exclusive right to the Christian ordinances ; 
nor have these ordinances when administered by 
them, any efficacy or validity beyond what they pos- 
sess when administered by other Christian organ- 
izations ; and to claim that they have, is to offend 
against both the letter and spirit of the heavenly 
doctrines, and to encourage the growth of an ex- 
clusive and sectarian spirit. The mistake into which 
some have fallen with regard to the efficacy or valid- 
ity of the Christian sacraments when administered 
in communions that hold certain doctrinal errors, is 
the legitimate offspring of another and still greater 
mistake, viz. this : that the Lord's true church is a 
visible body, consisting of those who understand and 
profess to believe true doctrine. Let this idea be 
abandoned, and let it be believed (as Swedenborg 
teaches), that his church is not confined exclusively 
to any religious organization, but that some portion 



OUR OUTWARD CHURCH RELATIONS. 225 

of it exists in them all, and it will then be seen that 
all organized bodies of professing Christians have an 
equal right to the Christian sacraments; and that 
their validity- or efficacy is not affected by the partic- 
ular doctrinal beliefs of the communions in which 
they are administered. 

RESPECTING A NEW ORGANIZATION. 

3. Again : If the prevailing idea be correct, that 
the New Jerusalem is a visible organization consist- 
ing, exclusively of those "who hold the doctrines 
set forth in the theological writings of Emanuel 
Swedenborg," then it would seem to be the duty of 
every one to connect himself with this organization 
as soon as he understands and accepts the doctrines 
of the New Church ; for according to the popular 
theory he does not and cannot belong to this Church 
until he becomes a member of its visible communion. 
But according to the view presented in these pages, 
membership in the New Jerusalem depends wholly 
upon character, and not upon one's profession or be- 
lief of certain doctrines, nor upon his external connec- 
tion with any visible organization. If his ruling love 
be love to the Lord and the neighbor, he is as truly 
in the church of the New Jerusalem in one organi- 
zation as in another ; and the question of changing 
his external church relations on receiving the doc- 
trines of the New Church, becomes one of expe- 
diency purely. If he cannot be allowed the enjoy- 
ment of his God-given rights and privileges in the 

P 



226 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

communion where he now is — such as the right of 
unfettered inquiry, private judgment, and the free 
expression of his honest thought — it may be best 
for him to withdraw. 

But suppose twenty or thirty persons in a congre- 
gation should become interested in the writings of 
Swedenborg; and suppose the minister and other 
members of that congregation possessed enough of 
the Christian spirit to allow them to remain undis- 
turbed, and to converse about the new doctrines as 
freely as they pleased, provided they did not do it 
offensively, nor cause needless disturbance ; I should 
consider it very unwise — altogether wrong, indeed 
— for those persons to withdraw, and form a separate 
organization. Let them rather remain where they 
are, and prove by their growth in humility, gentle- 
ness, forbearance, uprightness and earnest devotion 
to every good work, that the writings which now 
interest them are worthy the high origin claimed for 
them. 

Hitherto, however, the formation of a separate and 
distinct organization by the receivers of the doctrines 
of the New Church, has been quite a normal, and 
in many cases, perhaps, a necessary step. They 
have been forced to it by the bigotry and intolerance 
of the old organizations. Coming to believe differ- 
ently from the established creeds, they have not been 
permitted to remain in peace. Some of them have 
been excommunicated on account of their new be- 
liefs ; and the situation of others has been rendered 
most uncomfortable in the old organizations, by the 



DISCOURAGES SPIRITUAL PRIDE. 227 

spirit of intolerance and persecution which has been 
exercised towards them on account of their rejection 
of the old dogmas. And not a little of this spirit 
still lingers in the churches. But every year it is 
decreasing, and the large, free and tolerant spirit of 
the New Dispensation is coming to take its place. 
And as this goes on, and the various organizations 
become more and more imbued with the spirit and 
principles of the New Jerusalem, the necessity for a 
separate organization, which was once thought to 
exist, will cease to be felt. 



DISCOURAGES SPIRITUAL PRIDE. 

4. Then the view herein advocated is seen to be 
wholesome and practically important in other ways. 
It tends to discourage the growth of spiritual pride, 
and to foster a spirit of humility — as the old idea 
does not. Here, we will suppose, are a hundred 
societies who profess the doctrines of the New 
Church. These doctrines are the basis of their dis- 
tinct organization. Now let the people composing 
these societies cherish the belief for a series of years 
that they are the veritable New Jerusalem because 
they receive its' doctrines and bear its name: let this 
be taught them habitually by those to whom they 
look for instruction, and what must be the effect? 
Evidently to check the growth of humility, and to 
foster the growth of something quite the opposite — 
the growth of a spirit which is ever inclined to say, 
" Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou." And 



228 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

there is no sadder or more hopeless state than that 
of spiritual pride, or self- righteousness. We are 
naturally prone to think of ourselves more highly 
than we ought to think ; and what is true of indi- 
viduals, is equally true of societies*. There is as 
much social as individual self-righteousness. Socie- 
ties professing a particular creed, are as much inclined 
as individuals to think themselves a little better 
than other people whose creed is different from their 
own. And while it is quite agreeable to their natural 
feelings to have others acknowledge this, it is equally 
disagreeable to have them deny it. And if some of 
their own members deny it, they are apt to be looked 
upon with suspicion, and sometimes with a feeling 
akin to hatred. Arid their unsoundness in the faith, 
perhaps their hostility to the church, will be secretly 
whispered or openly affirmed. Whence come alien- 
ations, discord, sorrow and strife, among those who 
might otherwise have dwelt together like brethren 
in unity. 

But let the higher and truer view of the church be 
inculcated and received, and no such sad result can 
follow. For then, neither societies nor individuals 
will have reason to think themselves better than 
their neighbors, merely on account of the doctrines 
they believe, the ordinances they observe, the ex- 
ternal worship they perform or the organization to 
which they belong. And so our view discourages 
self-righteousness and fosters humility; while it 
leaves every one in freedom to consult his own feel- 
ings with regard to outward fellowship. 



A POPULAR FALLACY. 22g 

DISSIPATES A POPULAR IDEA. 

5. It also dissipates the old idea, while it gives us 
a new and more exalted one, about " joining the 
church." If the true church, or the church of the 
New Jerusalem, be a visible organization, then to 
join such organization is to join the Lord's true 
church ; and to be in such organization, is to be in 
the New Jerusalem. And how easy a thing it is to 
join a religious organization! A little outside right- 
eousness and a prompt compliance with certain forms 
and ceremonies — the tithes of mint, anise and cum- 
min, which the most graceless are able to pay — 
are all that is necessary. And many, when they 
think they are really in the church, are inclined to 
rest contented and satisfied. Thus very sad conse- 
quences may result from mistaking a visible organiza- 
tion for the true church of the Lord. The attention 
is liable to be drawn away from those heavenly graces 
of character which constitute the essence of the true 
church, and fixed upon that external and visible body 
which claims to be, but is not, the real church. 

But when the true doctrine concerning the church 
is proclaimed and accepted, there is no such liability. 
For it is then seen that coming into the Lord's 
church is something very different from a formal 
joining of some religious body. It is seen that 
entering the church is essentially the same as enter- 
ing heaven; and that the manner of entering it is the 
same. And Swedenborg says that, " since heaven is 

not without any one, but within him, therefore they 
20 



23O THE GOLDEN CITY. 

are greatly deceived who imagine that to go to 
heaven is only to be taken up among the angels!' 
(H. H. 54.) And further: 

"That which constitutes heaven in man, constitutes also 
the church in him ; for as love and faith constitute heaven, 
so likewise do they constitute the church. Therefore, from 
what has been already said respecting heaven, it may be 
clearly seen what the church is." (N. J. D. 241.) 

In the light of this new doctrine concerning the 
church, it will be seen that coming into the church is 
quite a different thing from formally connecting one's 
self with some visible organization ; — that it is, 
indeed, coming into a state of love and faith akin to 
that of the angels. It will be seen that we really 
come into the church only in the degree that the essen- 
tial constituents of the church come into us ; or in the 
degree that we come into a state to love and take de- 
light in doing the commandments of the Lord. It 
is well to join some religious society; for we may 
thereby put ourselves in a position to receive and 
impart greater spiritual benefit. But we are not to 
think that we are in the church simply because we 
have joined such society ; nor that others are out of 
the church because they have not joined it. Such a 
thought is utterly forbidden by the view herein ad- 
vocated. 

REBUKES THE SPIRIT OF PROSELYTISM. 

6. This view has another wholesome practical ten- 
dency, which is, to discourage and check the spirit 



CHECKS THE PROSELYTING SPIRIT. 23 1 

of proselytism. This spirit is one which aims chiefly 
to win others over to our way of thinking, and so to 
strengthen and build up our particular sect or organ- 
ization. It is the spirit of party. And there is 
scarcely anything more destructive of the life of 
charity, or more utterly antagonistic to the true 
church of the Lord, than this spirit. But let it be 
known and believed that the true church is not a 
visible body, but that it includes all of whatever 
name or creed, who acknowledge the Lord and keep 
his commandments, and this spirit at once receives a 
wholesome check. The natural ambition to increase 
or build up a sect, under the mistaken idea that in 
so doing we are building up the Lord's true church, 
loses its stimulus. We no longer look upon a per- 
son as in the church simply because he belongs to 
our communion ; nor as out of the church because 
he belongs to another. And our desire, therefore, 
will be to withdraw people from the love and wor- 
ship of themselves to the love and worship of the 
Lord, rather than to win them to our way of think- 
ing and thus enlarge the boundaries of our sect. 
Cherishing this desire, we shall be led to examine 
our hearts, to scan our motives, to look at our ends 
and aims ; and shall feel far less concern about our 
external than about our internal communion. 

We shall thus be lifted to a higher plane of life 
and action. We shall begin to regard and judge our- 
selves somewhat as the Lord and the angels do ; for 
they look not at our thoughts or beliefs, but at our 
purposes; they dwell with us in our ends and aims — 
if these be good. Swedenborg says : 



232 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

"The end which a man proposes is all that the Lord 
looks at. However his thoughts and actions are modified 
(which may be in many ways), provided the end proposed 
be good, these also are all good; but if the end be evil, 
these are all evil. . . . The end which a man proposes is 
his very life ; and all that he thinks and does derives life 
from it. Therefore a man's life is such as is the end pro- 
posed. The end is nothing but the love ; for a man can- 
not possibly regard as an end, anything but what he loves ' ' 
(A. C. 131 7). "The very angels attendant on man, have 
their abode solely in his ends of life". (Ibid. 3796.) 

Let the true idea of the Lord's church be gen- 
erally received, and straightway the selfish and hurt- 
ful spirit of proselytism will begin to perish in the 
hearts of Christians, and a larger, nobler, heavenlier 
spirit will begin to take its place. 



ENCOURAGES FREE THOUGHT AND RELIGIOUS 
GROWTH. 

7. Another practical inference: — This view tends 
to promote that free inquiry, independent thought, 
and honest expression, on religious subjects, which are 
indispensable to religious progress ; while the idea 
of the church as a visible body, leads to the denial 
of the right of private judgment, and consequently 
to the suppression of free thought and the hindrance 
of religious growth. 

Take, for example, the Roman Catholic commu- 
nion — the most consistent representative of the 
idea of the church as a visible organization. This 
idea is fundamental in the Romish as indeed it is in 



THE OLD IDEA HINDERS GROWTH. 233 

every religious establishment. It leads directly to 
the building up of a hierarchy. And a hierarchy 
once organized, the priests and chief rulers will 
straightway identify this Babel reared by human 
hands, with the temple of the living God — the true 
church. They will speak of it, and will teach the 
common people to think and speak of it, as the 
church — as the spiritual mother which all are bound 
to honor even as they honor the Father. The de- 
cisions of this Mother must not be questioned. 
Her counsels must be received with implicit trust. 
To reject them is held to be equivalent to rebellion 
against the counsels of the Most High. To criticise 
them is deemed daring presumption. To go counter 
to them, is considered identical with going counter 
to the declared will of Heaven — justly subjecting 
the recusant to the Mother's malediction. 

When such ideas are inculcated and received, as 
they have been in the Romish hierarchy, the freedom 
of the individual is all gone ; the right of private 
judgment is denied; free inquiry and free thought 
upon the loftiest themes perish. Hence a good 
Catholic never thinks of holding any opinion differ- 
ent from that which " the Church " teaches — never 
imagines that he has a right to do so. He never 
pretends that he is at liberty to think for himself 
upon matters pertaining to religion. "The Church" 
does all that thinking for him. Can such teaching 
tend to promote religious progress ? Never. 

And wherever the old Romish ecclesiastical con- 
ception is entertained, similar results must ultimately 
20* 



234 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

follow. Nor will the results be much modified by 
the greater purity of received doctrines. Even those 
of the New Jerusalem cannot prevent the evil con- 
sequences of the old and mistaken idea with regard 
to the church. Experience has proved this. A 
committee of the General Convention of the New 
Church in the United States, regarding their visible 
organization as the New Jerusalem in America, said 
in their Report a few years ago : 

" The General Church [meaning their own organization] 
is to decide how these precepts [of the Lord in his Word] 
are to be understood, and what they require all the parts 
of the church to shun or to do. ... In the same manner 
are the decisions of the larger societies, the commands of 
a mother to the smaller ; and the decisions of the smaller, 
to the individuals who compose them." — N. J. Magazine, 
Sept. 1840. 

And the idea of this same body's authority, as 
well as of its identity with the heavenly Mother 
whom we are commanded to honor even as we 
honor the Father, is still more fully expressed in a 
communication to the Convention from one of its 
ministers, who has been connected with the organ- 
ization from its commencement, and is thoroughly 
identified with its ecclesiastical' polity. The writer 
says : 

"Now, if we wish to honor our Mother, the church, 
[meaning the General Convention,] we shall take care to 
give it such form and organization as will enable us to 
look up to it with the greatest degree of regard, and to 
put into its hands such powers, endow it with such func- 



A STIFLING IDEA. 2$$ 

tions, and give it such influence, as will enable it to per- 
form not only the fostering, cherishing and helping, but 
the rebuking, chastising and correcting duties of a mother 
towards and over us. We shall do this not only because 
we wish to honor and respect our Mother Church agree- 
ably to the commandment, but because we desire to yield 
her our deepest filial regard, and our most sincere obedi- 
ence." — Journal of Convention for 1852, p. 202. 

It is easy to see how such an idea of the church 
as that involved in this paragraph, must tend inevi- 
tably to the suppression of free thought and private 
judgment in matters pertaining to the church, to 
the^ prevention of frank and manly criticism, and 
ultimately to the extinction of everything like 
independence, individuality and true manliness of 
character. And it will as surely beget and foster — 
in some at least — a mean and degrading servility. 
We know what results this idea of the church has 
wrought in the Roman Catholic communion. The 
mass of the people there are not encouraged to think 
for themselves on religious subjects. They must 
receive whatever instruction " the Church " thinks 
proper to give them. Implicit submission to the 
expressed will of the "Mother" is the doctrine there 
inculcated. He is considered the best Catholic, who 
is most submissive — most obedient to the commands 
of his Mother — and not he who is truest to the 
convictions reached through the free and faithful 
exercise of his own God-given faculties. Who can- 
not see that the inevitable tendency of this, is, to 
discourage and stifle all free thought and manly 
utterance ? 



236 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

And what has happened in the Roman Catholic 
will happen in every other communion where the 
Romish dogma concerning the church as a visible 
body — and this body the Mother whom we are 
commanded to honor — is accepted for the truth. 
The timid will not dare to think for themselves, lest 
they may think differently from their Mother, and 
thereby incur her displeasure. They will, therefore, 
accept without thought or examination whatever the 
Mother teaches. They will eat such viands as she 
sets before them — wear whatever garments she 
thinks best. Her food may be unpalatable and un- 
wholesome ; the garments she prescribes may be 
uncomfortable ; but they will prefer to encounter the 
danger and endure the discomfort, rather than run 
the risk of incurring the Mother's malediction by 
thinking or speaking differently from her. 

Another class more ambitious, will bow with a 
base servility to the Mother's decisions, as the surest 
way of ingratiating themselves in her favor. They 
will sing her praises — merited or unmerited; will 
laud her deeds — wise or unwise; and she, in return 
for their subserviency, will commend their conduct, 
bestow on them her patronage and smiles, and so 
gratify their ambition. But such a course cannot 
tend to the development of the higher and nobler 
part of their nature. They remain strangers to all 
free, vigorous and manly thought. And where this 
is discouraged, or hindered in any way, we cannot 
hope for much true life or growth. 

But the tendency of the doctrine presented in 



UNITY, PEACE AND CONCORD. 2$? 

these pages concerning the true church, is altogether 
different. It allows and encourages the utmost free- 
dom of individual thought and inquiry ; and is, there- 
fore, altogether friendly to religious progress. When 
it is seen and acknowledged that the true church 
is not a visible organization, it is seen that no such 
organization can have any right to exercise " the 
rebuking, chastising and correcting duties of a mother 
towards and over us ; " and that every one, therefore, 
is at liberty to think for himself on religious matters, 
and is as free to think differently as in accordance 
with the body to which he belongs — provided he 
makes no disturbance, and does not reject funda- 
mentals, such as the Lord, the Word, and a life ac- 
cording to the revealed laws of charity. But the 
tendency of our doctrine to promote religious free- 
dom and consequent growth, has been pointed out 
in a previous chapter (IX.), and need not, therefore, 
be dwelt upon here. 

PROMOTES UNITY, PEACE AND CONCORD. 

8. There is yet another practical inference to be 
drawn from our view of the church as herein presented 
— and it is, perhaps, the most important of all. It 
tends to heal or prevent discord, alienation and 
strife, and to promote harmony, peace and union 
among the professed followers of Christ. Theo- 
logical wars have ever been wars of opinion. Strifes 
and divisions among Christians — yes, and among 
peoples of all other religions — have always sprung 



238 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

from some difference in their doctrinal beliefs. They 
have persecuted and hated each other because of 
different religious views honestly entertained, and 
which, all things considered, they could no more 
help entertaining, than a hundred individuals looking 
upon the same landscape from different standpoints, 
can help seeing it differently. No one can grasp the 
pure and absolute truth, any more than he can grasp 
Divinity itself. Appearances of truth, which are all 
of them more or less remote from the absolute truth, 
are all that any one is capable of beholding or re- 
ceiving ; and through these appearances, which ap- 
proach nearer and nearer to genuine truths as we 
advance in the regenerate life, both men and angels 
are conjoined with the Lord. Swedenborg says : 

"In the internal and external senses of the Word, are 
contained appearances of truth ; for essential divine truths 
are such that they cannot possibly be comprehended by 
any angel, still less by any man, since they exceed every 
faculty of the understanding of both men and angels. In 
order therefore that they [men and angels] may have con- 
junction with the Lord, divine truths flow in with them 
in appearances ; and when divine truths are in such 
appearances, they can both be received and acknowl- 
edged." 

"Man's rational faculty which receives the truths of doc- 
trine is finite, and what is finite cannot comprehend things 
which are infinite. Therefore divine truths from the Lord 
are presented before the rational faculty by appearances. 
Hence it is that doctrinals are nothing but appearances of 
divine truth, or nothing but celestial and spiritual vessels 
for containing what is Divine ; and since what is Divine, 



EFFECTS OF EXAL TING LOVE. 239 

that is, the Lord, is in them, therefore they affect ; and 
hence the Lord has conjunction with angels and men." — 
A. C. 3362, '65. 

What folly, then, for people to quarrel with each 
other because of the different aspects under which 
the same truth or the same statement of truth pre- 
sents itself to their minds ! The aspect of religious 
truth depends altogether on the state of the beholder; 
and must, therefore, be as various as are the moral or 
spiritual states of men. And when belief, or a particu- 
larism of belief, is exalted to the first place and held 
to be of supreme moment, then come wars, aliena- 
tions and divisions. But when love to the Lord and 
the neighbor is held supreme, then wars cease ; and 
along with a wide diversity of belief, there will exist 
unity, harmony and peace. Each one will be al- 
lowed and encouraged to accept the highest view of 
truth that he is able to receive ; and whether low or 
high — whether according to the teaching of the 
letter or the spirit — he will be regarded and treated 
as a brother, if, in the ordinary intercourse of his 
daily life, he give evidence of being actuated by the 
spirit of neighborly love. When love is exalted to 
the supreme place in all the sects, as it is in all the 
heavens, and doctrinal beliefs are held subordinate 
to the principle of charity, then, as Swedenborg 
says, " one church will be formed out of all these 
diverse ones, and all disagreements arising from mere 
doctrinals will vanish ; and all the animosities of 
one towards another will be speedily dissipated, and 
the Lord's kingdom be established on earth." 



240 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

That this glad and glorious state of the church 
will some day be attained, many prophets and seers 
have believed and taught; and among the latest, 
that distinguished leader of the Old Catholic party 
(Father Hyacinthe), who says : 

"The Church of the Future will know nothing of such 
divisions, such discordances, as have existed hitherto ; and 
she will uphold the freedom of theologies and the diver- 
sity of rites in the unity of one faith and one worship." 

And what shall that " one faith " be, but faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and all-sufficient 
Redeemer and Saviour? But this faith cannot exist 
as a vital principle, without religious obedience to the 
divine precepts. As Swedenborg says : " By belief 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, union with Him is effected. 
And to believe in Him is to have confidence that He 
saves ; and as no one can have such confidence un- 
less he lives well, therefore this also is meant by be- 
lieving in Him." 

And the " one worship " in which there will be 
unity along with freedom of theological belief and 
diversity of rites, will be the worship of the su- 
premely Good and True as illustrated and incarnated 
in the same Divine Person. And this worship will 
express itself in various outward forms ; but chiefly 
in righteous, benevolent and useful deeds. This is 
the highest and noblest kind of worship — so recog- 
nized by the angels in heaven, and so declared by 
the illumined Swede. He says : 

"The real worship of the Lord consists in the perform- 
ance of uses; and uses, during a man's life in the world, 



UNITY IN WORSHIP. 24 1 

consist in the right performance of the duties of his sta- 
tion, thus in serving his country, society and his neighbor 
from the heart, and in acting with sincerity in all his re- 
lations . . . . ; these uses are principally the exercises of 
charity, and those whereby the Lord is principally wor- 
shipped." — A. C. 7038. 

Again he says : 

"Real divine worship in heaven does not consist in fre- 
quenting temples and listening to sermons, but in a life of 
love, charity and faith. Sermons in the temples serve 
only as means of instruction in the conduct of life." — H. 
H. 222. 

" The primary constituent of worship is a life of charity, 
and its secondary is praying. From which it is plain that 
they who place all divine worship in oral and none in 
actual piety, greatly err. Actual piety is to act in every 
sphere and function from what is sincere, right, just and 
equitable; and this, because it is so commanded by the 
Lord in his Word." — Ap. Ex. 325. 

And towards unity in this highest kind of worship, 
it is plain that all the Christian denominations of to- 
day are gradually tending. Multitudes who seldom 
meet within consecrated walls, and can hardly unite 
in any formal worship, may be seen already uniting 
in that higher kind of worship — the performance 
of noble uses. 

And while the view presented tends to promote 
that union, harmony and fellowship among Chris- 
tians which is so desirable, it also tends to the re- 
moval of one chief obstacle to the spread of new 
and higher views of truth — and that is, the fear 
of being accounted a heretic, or of being obliged to 
21 Q 



242 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

separate from those with whom fellowship has hith- 
erto been maintained. It is this fear more than all 
else, which hinders both ministers and people from 
reading the writings of the illumined Swede. Min- 
isters are afraid to read them, lest they be accused 
of heresy ; and they are afraid to have their people 
read them, lest they may lose some of their flock. 
And so all parties sustain an unspeakable loss. But 
the view we have presented tends directly to dissipate 
all such fears, and to encourage the utmost freedom 
of religious inquiry and the most full and cordial re- 
ception of all views that seem true and profitable. 

Such are some of the practical inferences to be 
drawn from the view of the New Jerusalem as ex- 
hibited in the foregoing pages. It tends to weaken 
the spirit of sect, and to develop the catholic spirit 
of the Gospel. It encourages no denomination in 
the belief that the Christian ordinances administered 
by themselves possess any peculiar efficacy; nor 
does it permit them to claim for their own organiza- 
tion any special proximity to the Lord, merely on 
account of the greater purity of their doctrinal be- 
liefs. It tends to discourage spiritual pride, and to 
foster the growth of genuine humility. It dissipates 
the popular fallacy about "joining the church," and 
shows us that we come into the real church as we 
come into heaven or into internal fellowship with 
the angels. It rebukes the spirit of proselytism, en- 
courages perfect freedom of thought, stimulates re- 
ligious inquiry and consequent spiritual growth, and 



HAPP Y R.ES UL TS. 243 

tends to promote unity, peace, co-operation and good 
fellowship among Christians who differ widely in 
their views of doctrine, discipline and external wor- 
ship. 

And these happy results which are seen to flow 
legitimately from the view of the New Jerusalem or 
true church on earth as exhibited in these pages, are 
alone sufficient to commend this view and to demon- 
strate its heavenly origin. For the practical tendency 
of all doctrines, principles or ideas, is the surest test 
of their nature and origin. As it is written : 

" Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men 
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? 

" Even so every good tree bringeth forth good 
fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 

" A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 

" Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." 



XIV. t 

CONCL USION. 

IN the foregoing treatise scarcely anything has 
been said of the grand system of religious doc- 
trine, or of the transcendent spiritual philosophy, 
contained in the writings of the Swedish seer. The 
examination or presentation of the doctrines of the 
New Jerusalem, formed no part of my purpose in the 
preparation of this volume. But I will say here in 
conclusion, that, after diligent study of these doc- 
trines for a period of thirty-five years, meanwhile 
bringing to bear upon them the best powers of my 
understanding and the deepest experiences of my 
life, I can bear testimony to their inestimable value 
similar to that borne by the excellent and saintly 
Clowes (pp. i68-'7o). I can testify to their enlight- 
ening, satisfying and comforting nature ; to their 
entire harmony, consistency and coherence with all 
known truth ; to their perfect agreement with Scrip- 
ture and reason and human experience, and with my 
highest conception, also, of the character, attributes 
and government of God. 

These doctrines claim to be a new and divinely 
authorized revelation from God out of heaven ; and 
are therefore spoken of as " heavenly doctrines." 

244 



DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, 245 

But it is not a revelation given. to supersede the 
Sacred Scripture, nor is it composed according to 
the divine method. On the contrary it is all drawn 
from and based upon the teachings of Scripture, 
whose higher, even heavenly meaning, together with 
the sublime realities of the spiritual world, it opens 
up and reveals. 

For, according to Swedenborg, there are in all 
parts of the written Word both a spiritual and a 
natural sense ; and these senses are related like soul 
and body. And they correspond in like manner, the 
spiritual sense being as the soul and the literal sense 
as the body. Therefore the principle or law of 
Correspondence is presented by him as the true Key 
to the spiritual sense; and its efficacy and sufficiency 
are illustrated by manifold applications. 

All the great doctrines of our religion are vali- 
dated or affirmed by Swedenborg; yet the naturalism 
with which these doctrines have hitherto been im- 
bued from a too literal interpretation of the Scripture, 
is so thoroughly dissipated by his spiritual exegesis, 
that they appear altogether new, and are therefore 
called new. They are the old doctrines transfigured, 
or presented in an entirely new light; and while they 
meet the demands of the most exacting intellect, they 
fully satisfy the desires of the regenerating heart. 

And, central among these doctrines as the sun is 
central in our planetary system, stands the new doc- 
trine of the Divine Humanity — the doctrine of the 
Divine incarnation and human glorification — or of 
the perfect union of Divinity with humanity for the 
21* 



246 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

redemption and regeneratiorrof mankind. This doc- 
trine is all-pervasive in the New Theology. It 
breathes through all the other doctrines; it harmo- 
nizes them all ; it irradiates them all ; it vitalizes them 
all. It is the most comprehensive of all doctrines, 
involving as it does the philosophy of the Divine 
Incarnation and of human redemption and regener- 
ation. Christianity, according to Swedenborg, is 
nothing without the living Christ. He, the great 
seer maintains, is its central luminary, its vital force, 
its omnipresent and quickening power. Its doctrines 
were empty and lifeless if not filled and vitalized by 
his holy spirit. Repentance, reformation and regen- 
eration, he says, were utterly impossible without 
Him. He is the ever-living and ever-present and 
only Redeemer and Saviour; " Immanuel — God 
with us." 

And while the doctrines of our religion as ex- 
pounded by Swedenborg are eminently spiritual, 
they are at the same time equally rational. He no- 
where encourages a blind belief He never asks our 
assent to an unreasonable doctrine. He everywhere 
insists on the exercise of each one's own understand- 
ing in matters of faith. He never exalts reason 
above Revelation ; yet he would have us regard this 
faculty as one of God's noblest gifts, and exercise it 
faithfully in determining the true meaning of Revela- 
tion. He addresses us as free and rational beings, 
and never asks us to surrender our understanding to 
his dictum. He is positive in his affirmations — no 
man could be more so. He says in substance : " I 



NOT A VISIBLE BODY. 24/ 

have heard ; I have seen ; I know. But you, too, 
have understanding. Examine for yourself, there- 
fore, what I say. Test it by the light of Scripture 
and reason and science and history and human ex- 
perience and the accepted laws of the soul and all 
known truth. Then, if it does not approve itself to 
your rational intuitions, do not accept it. This is your 
indefeasible right — nay, it is your manifest duty." 

So earnestly does the great seer insist on the ex- 
ercise of our understanding in matters of faith ! So 
profoundly does he respect and so nobly vindicate 
the great Protestant principle — the right of private 
judgment! And he would have us all assert this 
right whenever we approach his own writings. 

These doctrines, as I have said, claim to be a new 
revelation, designed for the establishment and up- 
building of a New Church on earth, or for the reno- 
vation of human hearts and human society. But we 
are not to understand by a New Church a new and 
separate church-organization, with new ordinances, 
a new priesthood, and a new ritual. Not a new 
visible institution, but a new spirit, new light and 
new life in institutions already existing. Not a new 
external form, but a new internal quality; — com- 
paratively as the new man, made such by regenera- 
tion, is formed by the implantation of new thoughts 
and new affections in the old man. Externally and 
personally he is the same as before ; but internally 
he is a " new creation ; " he is animated by a new 
spirit; he acts from new motives ; he cherishes new 
desires and feelings ; he lives a new life. 



248 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

Accordingly Swedenborg says — and this shows 
us what he meant by the New Church — that, after 
the Last Judgment, the church would remain " similar 
indeed in the outward form, but would be dissimilar 
in the inward." That is, as an outward institution it 
would undergo no radical change, but internally it 
would be made new. " To outward appearance," he 
continues, " divided churches will exist as heretofore, 
and their doctrines will be taught as heretofore ; but 
henceforth the man of the church will be in a more 
free state of thinking on matters of faith, because 
spiritual liberty has been restored to him." 

Thus the newness which Swedenborg expected, 
was not to be in the external form but in the internal 
quality or condition. As a visible institution the 
Christian church was to remain substantially as it 
had been, divided into different sects, teaching differ- 
ent doctrines. But inwardly, because of the greater 
spiritual light and liberty that all were henceforth to 
enjoy, it was to be very different. 

And to-day we witness the fulfillment of the seer's 
prediction. Divided churches do still continue, the 
same to outward appearance as they were a hundred 
years ago. But they are not the same internally. 
Christians think very differently now from what they 
did then. Few now-a-days expect to be saved by 
faith alone. Few believe the old dogma of infant 
damnation. Few believe in a literal fire-and-brim- 
stone hell. Few believe in imputed righteousness, 
or unconditional election and reprobation. And 
many who claim to be orthodox, are beginning to 



NEW SPIRIT IN THE CHURCHES. 249 

doubt about the resurrection of the material body. 
Yet these things may still be found written in the 
creeds, substantially as they were in Swedenborg's 
day. And it is an undeniable fact that the changes 
in Christian thought which have taken place during 
the last hundred years, and are still going on, have 
uniformly been in one direction ; and that is, towards 
the creed of heaven as announced by the Swedish 
seer. 

And the churches of to-day are animated by a 
different spirit, also, from that which ruled them a 
century ago. Not yet is it altogether heavenly; but 
is is more sweet, gentle, loving and Christ-like than 
it was. It is less intolerant and more catholic ; less 
ascetic and more philanthropic. It leads Christians 
into dark alleys and lowly hovels, there to minister 
to the children of want and sorrow — there to whisper 
words of counsel and friendly encouragement. It 
prompts them to build asylums ; to organize sanitary 
and Christian Commissions ; to establish infirmaries, 
hospitals and houses of reformation ; and to provide 
homes for the indigent, unfortunate and friendless of 
every age and class. 

Yes ; along with a broader, freer and more tolerant 
spirit, there is a growing conviction everywhere that 
religion is an i n tens sly practical thing; that it has to 
do with the affairs of our every-day life ; that it is 
not something to be worn on Sundays and carefully 
laid aside on other days of the week ; but a spirit 
to be carried everywhere — into the family, the field, 
the shop, the school-room and the counting-house; 



250 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

into the marts of commerce, the halls of legislation 
and the courts of kings ; and to guide and govern 
men in all their political, commercial, industrial, 
social and domestic relations. 

Now, if I were called upon to indicate any single 
idea which was to distinguish pre-eminently that 
dispensation or church of which Swedenborg was 
the divinely appointed herald — any single idea that 
towers conspicuously above all others in his writings, 
I should say it is the idea of religion as a personal 
and practical thing; of religion embodying itself in 
good and useful deeds ; of religion carried into all 
our human acts and relations, purifying them all, 
sanctifying them all, ennobling them all. And this 
idea of religion in our common every-day life, so 
eminently characteristic of the New Theology, is the 
very idea which has been steadily growing into favor 
for the last hundred years in nearly all the churches. 

However similar, then, in their creeds and in out- 
ward appearance the churches of to-day may be to 
those of a hundred years ago, it is clear that they 
are very different internally. They have different 
ideas and purposes, and are animated by a different 
spirit. And every year this difference is increasing, 
and becoming more and more apparent. 

And thus it is that the New Jerusalem may be 
seen " descending out of heaven from God, having 
the glory of God." Thus may the Lord Himself be 
seen coming anew to the churches in the spirit and 
power of his now unsealed Word. Thus do we be- 
hold Him breaking through and dispersing the mists 



HO W A NEW CHURCH IS FORMING. 2 5 I 

of naturalism, and gladdening the hearts of his sin- 
cere followers with a new manifestation of Himself; 
— " coming," agreeably to his own prediction, " in 
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
Thus may a New Church be seen slowly forming, 
not as a new visible institution — not as a separate 
and distinct organization, but rather as a new spirit 
and life entering into the great heart of humanity 
and moulding it anew ; comparatively as the earth, 
on the return of each new spring-time, receives a 
fresh influx of the solar rays, and so becomes a new 
earth clad afresh with verdure and beauty : A 
church not antagonistic to existing organizations, 
but cordially sympathizing with and reanimating 
them all : A church not distinguished by its doc- 
trines or ritual or any outward sign, yet full of all 
sweet and gentle charities, " beautiful as a bride 
adorned for her husband." 

And foremost among the instrumentalities at work 
in the formation of this New Church (always except- 
ing the Sacred Scripture) I hesitate not to reckon 
the writings of the illumined Swedenborg. These 
contain the truths, unfold the doctrines and exhibit 
the spirit of this Church as no other writings do — 
the very truths, doctrines and spirit of heaven. 
Slowly, yet through ten thousand avenues, the teach- 
ings of the great seer are gliding into the mind and 
heart of Christendom. They are working noiselessly 
and unseen, like the mighty but invisible forces of 
nature. They are gilding with their light and en- 
nobling with their spirit all the best literature of our 



252 THE GOLDEN CITY. 

times. They are silently but surely flowing into the 
old theologies, dispersing their darkness, softening 
their tone, sweetening their temper, and gradually 
imbuing them with a more benign and heavenly 
spirit. They are dissipating the naturalism which 
has so long obscured Christianity, and introducing 
more just and elevated views of the Lord, the Scrip- 
ture and the spiritual world , and more rational and 
spiritual views of Redemption, Regeneration, the 
Last Judgment and the Second Coming. They are 
softening the asperities of all the sects, and bringing 
Christians into more intimate and fraternal relations 
— showing how they may dwell together like breth- 
ren in unity, notwithstanding the * diversity in their 
doctrinal beliefs. 

And these writings are beginning to be read by 
ministers of every denomination ; sometimes openly, 
sometimes covertly, as Nicodemus came to Jesus — ■ 
by night. Whatever is most rational, most liberal, 
most elevating, most searching and transforming in 
the pulpit of to-day, will be found, on close exami- 
nation, to be most in harmony with their heavenly 
teachings. I do not say that it all comes into the 
pulpit directly or indirectly from Swedenborg ; but I 
do say that his writings contain it all in clearest 
statement and amplest measure. And the preachers 
who are to-day most highly and widely esteemed — 
they who have the largest following, they whose 
word rings out the clearest, reachest farthest and 
makes itself felt the deepest, are the very men whose 
utterances are most in agreement with the doctrines 



THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 253 

and most imbued with the spirit of the New Jeru- 
salem. It is not without reason, therefore, that one 
of the leading religious weeklies of our country (the 
New York Independent), says : " Whoever desires 
to understand modern theology, and the elements 
which have contributed to its formation, has need to 
study the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." — " No 
Christian minister should fail to acquaint himself 
with the main principles of his system." 

So may these writings — already too long neglected 
by Christian ministers — continue to be read and 
studied. So may their heavenly teachings be pon- 
dered more and more. So may all the churches ex- 
perience, with ever increasing fulness, this second 
coming of the Lord in their midst — a coming in the 
spirit and power and great glory of his Word. So 
may we see this divine prophecy hastening to its 
spiritual fulfillment : 

" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be 
glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose. 

" It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even 
with joy and singing : The glory of Lebanon shall 
be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and 
Sharon : They shall see the glory of the Lord, and 
the excellency of our God. 

" Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and 
the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall 
the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the 
dumb shall sing." 

THE END. 
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OLAXTON, RE MSEN & H AFFELFDJGER. 

FOREGLEAMS AND FORESHADOWS OF IMMORTALITY. By 

Edmund H. Sears. 121110. New (and Eleventh) Edi- 
tion, revised and greatly enlarged. Extra cloth, $1.75. 

" The ' Foregleams of Immortality ' will stand as a lovely classic 
in sacred literature, and a beautiful inspiration of pure devotional 
feeling. . . . The best test of merit of a book is when we feel we 
have been made better by reading it ; and while the one now before 
us widens the field of intellectual vision, and makes solid and sub- 
stantial the bridge from time to eternity, it quickens the conscience in 
its sense of duty, and softens the heart with a tender and more celes- 
tial love." — Christian Inquirer. 

" Dr. Sears has done a valuable service to reflecting minds in the 
preparation of this volume. . . . Nowhere is the argument for im- 
mortality more clearly set forth ; nowhere are the Scripture facts, 
which testify to and affirm it, marshalled in closer array, or arranged 
with more logical consistency. The clear and beautiful style of the 
author adds new power to the lesson he has sought to teach, and gives 
added brightness to the page on which it is written." — Boston Even- 
ing Transcript. 

" The other productions of Mr. Sears have been marked by the 
loftiest moral beauty, in the purest and most elegant diction; hut 
this is his chef-d" 1 ceuvre in many respects. . . . We know no religious 
work of the age adapted to make a deeper, more practical, and more 
gladdening impression on thoughtful and lofty minds." — Christian 
Register. 

" Few books have pleased me so much as ' Foregleams of Immor- 
tality.' It is full of beauty and truth. The writer is wise from Swe- 
denborg, and has his own gifts besides. I can scarcely conceive of 
his writings not impressing many, and deeply. I have lent the book 
and recommended it in England, where the husks of the old theology 
interfere much with development and growth. Certainly it is a most 
beautiful and pungent book." — Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in 
a letter to an American friend. 

" There is much in the details of the volume which is instructive, 
and especially as regards the reality and some of the features of the 
intermediate state. . . . The concluding part of the book is entirely 
new, being on the ' Symphony of Religions,' and sets forth the im- 
perfect but yet valuable testimony of the various heathen religions to 
the grand truth of Immortality." — Chicago Advance. 

" A very interesting volume. The author has herein discussed 
the pregnant theme of Immortality with signal ability, clothing his 
thoughts in language so chaste and elegant, and illustrating his ideas 
by such a profusion of appropriate imagery, that the book has all the 
fascination of a beautiful poem." — The Swedenborgian. 

1 



PUBLICATIONS OF CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER. 



Regeneration. By Edmund H. Sears. New Edition, 
revised and enlarged. i2mo. Extra cloth, $1.25. 

" A fresh vivid presentation of an important theme — all the more 
valuable as the utterance of one who has thought deeply and felt pro- 
foundly about it. The reader will find in these pages no dry discus- 
sion of a hackneyed subject, but familiar truth presented with beauty 
of diction in a singularly felicitous and impressive manner, and pos- 
sessing a fascination which will win his attention from the beginning 
of the book to its close. . . . The three volumes (' Regeneration,' 
' Foregleams,' and ' The Heart of Christ,') together are a valuable 
contribution to religious and theological literature, and one which any 
man might be proud to have made. As now published, they would 
form most acceptable additions to the library of any Sunday-School, 
parish, or clergyman." — Boston Evening Transcript. 

" Mr. Sears' volume on * Regeneration ' is one of the profoundest 
and most exhaustive treatises on that subject, extant. The way in 
which he unfolds the laws of our inner life in the orderly process of 
spiritual development, will be a revelation to most of those who read 
it for the first time." — Arthur's Home Magazine. 

" A work full of the deepest and most nourishing spiritual truths — 
truths never more needed than they are at the present day and hour. 
Among devotional works it stands in the front rank ; and alike in the 
sweetness of its spirit and the beauty of its language, it commends 
itself to every sincere Christian. ... It is a good book to have by 
one. Its frequent perusal and study can hardly fail to enrich the 
spiritual life and lead to a firmer faith and a larger charity." — The 
Christian Register. 

"Never, we venture to say, has the subject of regeneration been 
treated in a manner at once so profound, philosophic, exhaustive, 
logical, and scriptural, as in this charming volume." — Boston New 
Church Magazine. 

The Fourth Gospel, the Heart of Christ. By Ed- 
mund H. Sears. i2mo. pp. 551. Extra cloth, $2.50. 

" The Fourth Gospel, the Heart of Christ, is a book of extraordi- 
nary interest; ... a rich and fresh contribution to the literature of 
the ages touching the life of our Lord. It is instructive and sugges- 
tive in the highest ranges of Christian thought and feeling." — The 
Congregationalist. 

" No book of recent American theology is likely to win more notice 
from thoughtful readers than this handsome volume by Edmund H. 
Sears, of 551 pages." — The Church and State. 

"The book of Dr. Edmund H. Sears, entitled 'The Heart of 
Christ,' is destined, we believe, to exert a powerful influence upon 
the opinions of thinking men in all branches of the Church." — New 
York Independent. 



PUBLICATIONS OF OLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER. 



Letters on the Future Life, addressed to Henry Ward 
Beecher. ByB. F.Barrett. i2mo. Extra cloth, |i.oo. 

CONTENTS. — I. Mr. Beecher's Position critically ex- 
amined. II. Swedenborg's Claim — and Credibility. III. 
His Philosophy of Spirit-seeing. IV. Vindication of his Claim 
— by adducing what he says concerning Death and Resurrection ; the 
Form of Man's Spirit ; Light and Heat in Heaven ; the Scenery of 
Heaven; Societies in Heaven; Time and Space in Heaven; Houses 
in Heaven; Temples and Worship in Heaven; Governments in 
Heaven ; a Heaven for Gentiles ; Children in Heaven ; the Rich and 
Poor in Heaven ; Marriages in Heaven ; Employments in Heaven ; 
the Happiness of Heaven ; the Life that leads to Heaven ; the Nature 
of Hell ; the Fire of Hell — what it is ; Man's Book of Life, &c, &c. 
V. Need and Tendency of his Disclosures. VI. Collateral 
Testimony. 

"A small volume with a great deal in it." — The Golden .Age, 

"We believe these Letters will produce a favorable impression 
upon the candid reader. There is [in them] a vigor and terseness 
most welcome in these days of long-drawn-out and tedious attempts 
at generalization." — Boston New Church Magazine. 

" The literature of Swedenborgianism is growing every year ; and 
what is noticeable about it is its good literary form, its earnest spirit, 
and the vigor and culture that it shows. . . . Any one fond of such 
speculation will read this lively little book with interest; for the pres- 
entation of the subject is animated and earnest." — New Haven 
Palladium. 

" No one of the many works in the same vein — some of which 
that are singularly able and lucid have been prepared by Mr. Barrett 
■ — have more earnestness, practically applied, than this." — Phila- 
delphia North A7tierican. 

" A grand and impressive statement of the New Church doctrine 
of the Future Life, eminently calculated to enlighten and interest 
the general reader." — New Church Independent. 



Letters on the Divine Trinity, addressed to Henry 
Ward Beecher. By B. F. Barrett. New and en- 
larged edition. 12 mo. Extra cloth, $1.00. 

A trenchant but friendly criticism of Mr. Beecher's view of the 
Trinity, as stated in his sermon on "Understanding God; " and pre- 
senting with great clearness and force the New Doctrine on this sub- 
ject, together with the Scriptural and rational evidence in its support, 

3 



THE WRITINGS 



Emanuel Swedenborg 



TOGETHEE WITH 



RECENT OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, AND THE 

VIEWS OF SOME EMINENT AUTHORS 

RESPECTING THEM, 



AND 



A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OE ALL HIS 
THEOLOGICAL WORKS. 



BY 
B. F. BARRETT. 



PUBLISHED BY 

CLAXTON, KEMSEtf & HAITEI.HNGEB, 

THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS 

OF 

Emanuel Swedenborg, 

A COMPLETE AND UNIFORM EDITION. 

19 Vols. 8vo. Extra Cloth. 

T 

The popular estimate of Swedenborg and his writings, 
seems to have undergone quite a change within the 
last half century. And the indications are, that this 
change is still going on. A considerable and growing 
class of thinkers desire to know more about this man 
and his teachings ; consequently there is an increased 
demand for his writings. This is evident from the 
recent tone and criticisms of the periodical press in 
general, and from the publicly expressed opinions 
of some of the leading religious journals. To meet 
this growing demand, therefore, the publishers have 
pleasure in announcing a complete, uniform and ele- 
gant edition of Swedenborg's Theological Writings; 
a descriptive catalogue of which, with the prices 
annexed, will be found in this pamphlet, together 
with the opinions of some leading journals and 
distinauished authors. 



KECENT OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 



From the New York Independent, 

" To a careless reader of ecclesiastical statistics the Swedenbor- 
gian Church would seem to be one of the least of the great house- 
hold of faith. To the careful student of religious thought it 
appears to be among the more important. It has made very few 
converts from the faith of orthodoxy, but it has materially modi- 
fied that faith. In a word, as a little salt changes the contents of 
a large vessel of water, so Swedenborgianism, seemingly lost in 
the great multitude of churches, has more or less modified the 
form of faith of all. 

"Whoever, therefore, desires to understand modern theology, 
andihe elements which have contributed to its formation, has need 
to study the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Whatever minister 
desires to understand modern religious thought in his own con- 
gregation, must know something of Swedenborgianism, though he 
has not a Swedenborgian in his parish." 

From the Same (later issue). 
" There is, in Swedenborg' s writings, a marvelous insight, — 
a vision of the higher truths of philosophy and religion, to which 
few men have attained. No Christian minister should fail to ac- 
quaint himself with the main principles of his system." 

From the New York Sun. 

"It is certainly something in favor of Swedenborg that, after 
the lapse of so many years, he has the adhesion of numbers of 
intelligent and cultivated people. Mr. Barrett, for example, is a 
scholar and a thinker, and shows no evidence of laboring under 
mental hallucination. Yet he, and, if we are correctly informed, 
hundreds and even thousands equally sane, are fully convinced 
that Swedenborg has told the truth in what he says about the 
spiritual world, and was in no respect an imposter or a madman. 

" Unlike, too, ordinary religious enthusiasts, Swedenborg's fame 
has gone on increasing instead of diminishing, so that his follow- 
ing is far greater at present than it was at the time of his death, 

3 



4 swedenborg's theological works. 

a hundred years ago. A fact like this shows that there is more 
than mere nonsense in his writings, whether they be all that they 
are asserted to be or not." 

From the St, Louis Home Journal. 

" The philosophy of this work [Swedenborg 9 s True Christian Re- 
ligion] may be summarily stated thus : ' God is Love and Wisdom ; 
therefore He is coincident with what we conceive of as the great- 
est, the inmost, the highest, the best, and consequently the First 
of all things. The Lord Jesus Christ is that Love and Wisdom 
clothed with a Humanity which is glorified by them. The Holy 
Spirit is that Love and Wisdom going forth and operating, com- 
municating themselves as the Life and Light of souls — for souls 
are their primary and responsive receptacles. Redemption and 
its orderly sequences, reformation and regeneration, are this con- 
stant operation becoming effective in man's life and character. 
The Sacred Scripture is the verbal expression of Love ancfe Wis- 
dom through seers, prophets and evangelists, who spoke as they 
were moved by the Holy Spirit. Creation is but a lower mani- 
festation of the same principles, and is therefore everywhere cor- 
respondent to them. Baptism and the Holy Supper are their 
symbols in the Christian Church ; charity and faith are their best 
image in man.' 

" Such is the philosophy of the Swedenborg religion — claim- 
ing to be eminently spiritual and reasonable, and free from dogma." 

From the Philadelphia North American, 

" It is proof of the vital nature of Swedenborg' s writings that 
they have not only survived sharp opposition, but that they con- 
stantly acquire new disciples and a greater circulation." 

From the Chicago Tribune. 

"We lack space to point out the place which Swedenborg occu- 
pies in the world of religious thought, and the particular office of 
the work before us. Suffice it therefore, to say, that many persons 
of all sects are greatly interested in Swedenborg's teaching, and 
that it seems likely to leaven more or less the entire lump of 
modern religion." 



RECENT OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 5 

From the Westfield (Mass,) News Letter. 
"Emanuel Swedenborg was a remarkable man, and his writings 
have exerted a remarkable influence throughout every branch of 
the Christian Church. True, there are but few persons, compara- 
tively, who have embraced his theological opinions as a whole ; 
but very many in every denomination have embodied some part 
of his religious belief in their creeds." 

From the Chicago Advance. 
" Swedenborg deserves to be studied as a philosophic writer not 
often excelled in profundity, acuteness, variety, and consistency 
of thought. We confess to having read for years past some portion 
of his works with intellectual and spiritual profit ; and we imagine 
at least that we can trace his influence in the conceptions and reason- 
ings of many modern authors of distinction, who do not always 
give Swedenborg the credit which he deserves. This is especially 
true on the subject of the Devil and evil spirits, the Trinity, the re- 
lation of the Divine to the human in the person of Christ, the 
atonement, the resurrection, and the future life of heaven and hell." 

From the Golden Age. 

" Swedenborg was a remarkable man in many ways, contributing 
to scientific knowledge by his discoveries, and making his mark 
upon the thought of his time. His visions are in striking contrast 
to the opinions of his age, and in substance are in striking accord 
with the intuitions of the best minds of our own. . . . He revealed 
a world ordered and controlled by principles and attractions im- 
mutable as gravitation and unerring as the light. He abolishes 
caprice. He sweeps all arbitrary edicts out of the universe. He 
reveals a heaven that rests on the necessity of things, the nature 
of man, the reason of God. He shows that man is the architect 
of his own destiny, that he creates and carries his own heaven 
with him in the unfolding possibilities of his being, and that by 
obedience to the laws of his spirit here, and not by dogmatic beliefs 
and ceremonial compliance, he shall find his beatitude now and 
forever. And for this the coming age will keep his memory in 
fresh and grateful remembrance ; and if there is a future life, the 
1* 



6 

best minds will hereafter conceive of it in the spirit of his teach- 
ings." 

From Arthur's Home Magazine. 

" The time has passed when his [Swedenborg's] claims to a hear- 
ing can be set aside by ignorant misrepresentation or prejudiced 
contempt. Too many men of clear intellect and blameless lives have 
studied his writings, and their favorable testimony is too strong for 
any such gainsaying. From this time forth, men who would set 
themselves in opposition to Swedenborg's teachings must at least 
acquaint themselves therewith, and so make their opposition 
honest and intelligent." 

From the New York Evening Posti 

" Such, in brief outline, is the system of Emanuel Swedenborg. 
It is not the province of a purely literary critic to sit in judgment 
on the theological systems. It is safe to say, however, that this 
system has produced a very profound influence upon modern reli- 
gious thought. It has materially changed methods of presentation 
of old and almost universally accredited truths. Its influence has 
been all the more potent because silent and unrecognized. Cer- 
tainly he who desires to understand the religious convictions of 
the present age, cannot afford to be ignorant of the contribution 
which Emanuel Swedenborg has made toward them." 

From the Cincinnati Evening Chronicle. 

" The steady growth of the New Church in this country, and an 
increasing desire on the part of thinking people to inquire into 
the religious teachings of Swedenborg, have led to the publication 
of the more important of his works in popular form." 

From the New York Evening Mail. 

"That Swedenborgianism is becoming an element of great 
activity and importance in the religious belief and life of to-day, 
is witnessed, if by nothing else, by the considerable number of 
works conveying these doctrines, issued from the American press. 
... It is very true, as has been observed lately by several critics, 
that the doctrines of the Swedish seer have become a permeating 
formative influence throughout the orthodox churches." 



RECENT OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 7 

From the Medical Critic and Psychological Journal. 
M In the whole range of modern biography, there is no life of 
greater interest to the medico-psychologist than that of Emanuel 
Swedenborg. His writings constitute a splendid monument of the 
extraordinary intellectual powers, the untiring assiduity, and the 
lofty religious fervor of the man. As a philosopher he will always 
occupy a conspicuous and honorable position in the history of 
modern philosophy ; and as a theologian he gave birth to one of 
the most remarkable developments of Christianity in modern 
times." 

From the Southern Quarterly Review. 

" Who ever thought so profoundly on great and noble themes 
as Swedenborg ? . . . The fame of Bacon and Newton and Locke 
— "of Milton and Shakespeare and Scott, pales and grows dim 
before the brighter glory that clusters around the name and acts 
of this renowned individual. They acquired distinction for the 
splendor of their success in particular departments of inquiry, and 
in certain spheres of intellectual labor ; but it was reserved for the 
more fortunate and celebrated Swede to master, not one science 
but the whole circle of the arts and sciences ; and to understand 
and reveal the great connecting links that subsist between mind 
and matter, time and eternity, man and his Maker, in a far clearer 
manner than any of the most gifted and inspired of his prede- 
cessors. 

" The world may be challenged in vain to produce in the his- 
tory of any single individual, such a combination of gigantic and 
well-balanced powers of mind, with vast and magnificent attain- 
ments of all sorts." 

From the Chicago Evening Journal, 

"There is not a reflective person in the world whom Sweden- 
borg's writings will not interest. Count him a visionary, a man 
maddened with l too much learning,' or a f spiritualist ; ' and yet 
there is that in his philosophy, however we may treat it under the 
prejudices of our early training, which makes us wish that his 
writings were true, or that we dared to adopt his belief. 

" If we look for true Christianity, we may find it everywhere 



8 swedenborg's theological works. 

in his books. If we seek for arguments that no human being haa 
yet refuted, we shall find them also there. Call him a religious 
enthusiast, and ignorantly scoff at him, it is all the same — he has 
never been put down. . . . 

" We care not what string of the great Evangelical controversy 
the reader is accustomed to hold on by ; but if he or she will only 
read this book [Swedenborg's Divine Love and Wisdom], Chris- 
tian love and Christian unity will be better understood and 
appreciated." 

From the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, 
" Considerable interest has lately been evinced on the part of 
the reading American public, to become more familiar with the 
writings and views of that extraordinary man [Swedenborg], who 
is either a saint or a mad enthusiast." 

From the Nonconformist. (English,) 

" Significant traces of his [Swedenborg's] influence are to be 
found broadcast in society, often among those who are not con- 
scious of any obligation to him. He is received by all thinkers 
courteously, and by very many cordially. The storm of violent 
denunciation or angry ridicule which was launched against him 
by theologians a generation ago, is scarcely remembered now, and 
is not likely to be revived. All are agreed that he was a genuine 
and sincere man who believed his own words, and did not wilfully 
deceive or invent. ... As a system of philosophical theology or 
theological philosophy, we are disposed to place Swedenborg's 
teachings in a very high rank. There is a largeness of sympathy 
with all forms of life and action, which is too often lacking in 
theologians and theological systems, and was highly characteristic 
of the man. There is a grandeur of conception flowing from his 
constant reference of all things to God." 

From the North American Review. 

" His [Swedenborg's] books teem with the grandest, the most 

humane and generous truth ; but his reverence for it is so austere 

and vital, that, like the lover who willingly makes himself of no 

account beside his mistress, he seems always intent upon effacing 



RECENT OPINIONS OF THE PEESS. 9 

• himself from sight before its matchless lustre. Certainly the high- 
est truth never encour *ered a more lowly intellectual homage than 
it gets in these artless bv. ^ks ; never found itself so unostentatiously 
v • heralded, so little patrons ed — in a word, left so completely for 
its success to its own sheer unadorned majesty." 

From the Parkersburg Daily Times, 

" No one who wishes to have his faith secure, and who wishes 
v that peace which truth alone can inspire, should fail to read his 
writings. He will not find in Swedenborg much to gratify his 
mere aesthetic taste ; but he will find that which is far better — ■ 
i< food for the upbuilding and sustenance of the spiritual and intel- 
lectual man. If he reads to find Truth in all her unadorned sim- 
v plicity, he will not fail to find her ; and that, too, as an angel of 
light warmed by love." 

From the Pittsburg Gazette. 
"No system of religion in these latter days has awakened so 
/ much interest as that of Swedenborg, and with it a desire to under- 
stand its deep mysterious workings. There has always been a 
charm attached to it of the ethereal cast, which has attracted mul- 
titudes to its standard ; and no wonder, as it is composed of such 
elements as will find followers. ... A careful perusal of this 
work [Divine Love and Wisdom] can hardly fail to convey the 
impression that it is a remarkable combination of philosophical 
reasoning, and a species of illumination and seership which has 
rarely been produced in the field of letters." 

From the Christian Union. 
" Certainly no man living up to the spirit of the tenets of Swe- 
denborg, should be other than a sincere, humble, and sweet-minded 
Christian." 

From the New Church Magazine, 
" A settled minister, one of the most distinguished authors of 
religious works in this country, writes : ' I have read Swedenborg 
with much profit ; and although I could not be called a ' full re- 
ceiver,' the central doctrines of the New Church [as enunciated 
by him] are my dailv bread.' " 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. 



Samuel Taylor Coleridge says : 

"I remember nothing in Lord Bacon superior, few passage* 
equal, either in depth of thought, or in richness, dignity, and 
felicity of diction, or in the weightiness of the truths contained 
in these articles. I can venture to assert, that, as a Moralist, Swe- 
denborg is above all praise ; and that, as a Naturalist, Psychol ogist ; 
and Theologian, he has strong and varied claims on the gratitude 
and admiration of the professional and philosophical faculties." — 
Literary Remains, Vol. IV., p. 423. 

Kalph Waldo Emerson says: 

" One of the missourians and mastodons of literature, Sweden- 
borg is not to be measured by whole colleges of ordinary scholars. 
No wonder that his depth of ethical wisdom should give him in- 
fluence as a teacher. To the withered traditional church yielding 
dry catechisms, he let in nature again ; and the worshiper, es- 
caping from the vesting of verbs and texts, is surprised to find 
himself a party to the whole of his religion. His religion thinks 
for him, and is of universal application. He turns it on every 
side ; it fits every part of life, interprets and dignifies every cir- 
cumstance. Instead of a religion which visited him diplomati- 
cally three or four times, — when he was born, when he married, 
when he felt sick, and when he died, and for the rest never inter- 
fered with him, — here was a teaching which accompanied him 
all day ; accompanied him even into sleep and dreams ; into his 
thinking, and showed him through what a long ancestry his 
thoughts descend ; into society, and showed by what affinities he 
was girt to his equals and his counterparts ; into natural objects, 
and showed their origin and meaning, what are friendly and what 
are hurtful ; and opened the future world by indicating the con- 
tinuity of the same laws." — In his " Representative Men" 

Bev. Edmund H. Sears (author of "The Heart of Christ") says: 

"What appear as Swedenborg's crudities and fantasies, however, 
are extraneous to his essential system, which has a unity of its 

10 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. 11 

own, and an organic connection with Christianity, such as avouches 
itself the genuine development of the Christian system. His cos- 
mology, his theology and his pneumatology, are the Christian rev- 
elation breaking into more full and rational light from the seals 
of the letter which had kept and preserved it."— In " The Monthly 
Religious Magazine" March, 1865. 

Henry James (author of " Substance and Shadow," and several 
other works) says: 
" I fully concede, indeed, to Swedenborg what is usually denied 
him, namely, an extreme sobriety of mind displayed under all the 
exceptional circumstances of his career, and which ends by making 
us feel at last his every word to be almost insipid with veracity. 
I cordially appreciate, moreover, the rare destitution of wilfulness 
which characterizes all his researches ; or rather the childlike 
docility of spirit which leads him to seek and to recognize, under 
all the most contradictory aspects of nature, the footsteps of the 
Highest. . . . His books are a dry, unimpassioned, unexaggerated 
exposition of the things he daily saw and heard in the world of 
spirits, and of the spiritual laws which these things illustrate; 
with scarcely any effort whatever to blink the obvious outrage his 
experiences offer to sensuous prejudice, or to conciliate any interest 
in his reader which is not prompted by the latter's own original 
and unaffected relish of the truth. Such sincere books, it seems 
to me, were never before written." — In "Substance and Shadow" 

Hon. Theophiltts Parsons (author of several works on Juris- 
prudence of high authority, and for twenty -two years Professor 
in the Cambridge Law School) says : 

" I regard him [Swedenborg] as a man of remarkable ability, 
and great and varied culture ; taught as no other man ever was 
taught, truths which no other man ever learned ; and thus in- 
structed that he might introduce among men a new system of truth 
or doctrine, excelling in character and exceeding in value any 
system of truth before known; — a new gift, demanding as the 
instrument by which it could be communicated, a man not only 
possessing extraordinary capacity and cultivation, but in both ca- 
pacity and cultivation definitely adapted to the peculiar work he 



12 swedenborg's theological works. 

had to do. But this work was to learn the truth himself and teach 
it to others, in his own freedom ; and therefore in his own liability 
to error, and with the limitations of his own intellect. For, how- 
ever well suited he was to his work, it was his own work ; and his 
books are only human books, infinitely far from that Word of God 
which was written by Inspiration." — In " Deus Homo," p. 21. 

Edwin Paxton Hood (author of " A World of Anecdote," 
" Lamps, Pitchers and Trumpets," etc., ) says : 

" Swedenborg was one of the profoundest mathematicians of his 
age ; a deep and acute thinker ; a subtle logician ; a various and 
versatile scholar ; above all, a calm and most quiet bookman and 
penman, indisposed for every company, and never seen to court 
the company of the ignorant and the vulgar — ever the resort of 
the fanatic ; a man of few words, until compelled to talk, or talking 
for a purpose ; cool in temperament ; never rocked by passion or 
impulse; always, as far as humanity can be, in equilibrium, 
weighing all his thoughts and all his actions ; perpetually bent 
upon giving reasons for things ; a man of strong inductive habits 
and powers, and consistent ; a whole life of invariable rectitude : 
• — Is this the portrait of a fanatic ? . . . . He was a Titan, and must 
take his place among the very highest and widest minds of our 
world." — In "Swedenborg: A Biography and an Exposition" 
pp. 169, 170. 

Bishop Hukd (author of "Lectures on the Prophecies," and 
many other works,) says : 

" It has been said by some, and received implicitly without fur- 
ther examination by others, that Swedenborg, after receiving his ex- 
traordinary commission, was mad, and became totally deprived of 
his natural senses ; but this insinuation is such a palpable contra- 
diction to truth, and such an insult to common sense — being 
overruled by every page of his writings as well as by every act of 
his life after that period — that we should have thought it altogether 
unworthy of notice were we not aware that it operates powerfully 
with many, even at this day, to prejudice them against a character 
which otherwise they would revere, and against writings from 
which they would otherwise receive the most welcome instruc- 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. 13 

tion." — In " History of the Bites and Ceremonies of All Nations" 
p. 705. 

Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson (London) says : 

" Swedenborg's writings are a library in themselves, and display 
the most careful method and the most indomitable energy. He 
was eminently conservative ; he quarreled with no church ; he 
set himself in opposition to no organized body. He did not stand 
apart in all the loneliness of prophetic fury, and denounce ven- 
geance on degenerate man. He was too catholic to found a sect ; 
he spoke the truth entrusted to him, and left it to permeate the 
lives and opinions of succeeding ages. His charity was as broad as 
the ocean which rolls its waves on every shore, wide as the firma- 
ment which foldeth all the orbs of heaven within its ample bosom. 
The most magnificent scholar of his age, he was at the same time 
the humblest Christian. Favored by kings, intimate with nobles 
and statesmen, and the learned of every land, he was without one 
particle of vanity, and labored as assiduously and devotedly as 
the humblest parish priest." — In his " Introduction to Swedenborg's 
Economy of the Animal Kingdom." p. lxxvi. 

The same distinguished author, writing in 1849, says : 

"Strong indications exist, that in another five-and-twenty years 
the field occupied by this author [Swedenborg] must be visited by 
the leaders of opinion en masse, and whether they will or not ; be- 
cause it is not proselytism that will take them there, but the expan- 
sion and culmination of the truth, and the organic course of events." 
— In his " Life of Swedenborg" p. 3, Am. edit. 

Dr. John Mill (London) says : 

"Swedenborg makes great demand on our faith, but none on «ur 
charity. In the great and glorious roll of worthies who have 
ennobled humanity, there is no one that recurs to our memory just 
now, who can stand a criticism with less fear of the ordeal than 
he can. . . . Measure him as a man of science with Newton, and 
you will find him his equal in point of intellectual greatness. 
With Bacon and Plato he is great amongst the greatest of the 
philosophers. With Boerhaave and Haller he is in the first rank 

2 



r 



14 swedenborg's theological works. 

of physiologists. With the theological writers and Bible com- 
mentators, from Origen to Adam Clarke, and who has equaled 
him ? All this is easily conceived and said ; but who shall picture 
the innocence and purity of his life, the sublimity of his moral 
nature, the simplicity of soul which, whilst believing himself to 
be the chosen messenger of Heaven and the companion of angels, 
left the company of the great and learned, sat quietly to think and 
write in his study, or walked into Cold Bath Square to chat with 
the children." — In his Lecture on " The Claims of Swedenborg." 

Eev. George Gilfillan (Edinburg) says : 

" Of Swedenborg himself there should be but one opinion. He 
was a man of prodigious genius ; .... in a certain sense a seer, 
but of those broad principles which constitute the trunk and 
branches of the tree of the world." — In "Christianity and our 
Era." 

Prof. Thorild (a celebrated Swedish poet and metaphysician, 
and Professor of the Swedish Language and Literature in the 
University of Greifswalde) says: 

" What are we to think of this truly extraordinary man ? That 
he was a fool, say those little men whose good opinion never did 
good to any one. That he was an arch-heretic, bawls Orthodoxy 
with loud and ferocious voice. What the philosopher sees in him, 
is, a man of vast and consummate learning, an honor and glory to 
his nation, who preserved the veneration for his genius by the truly 
apostolical simplicity and purity of his morals." — In Part 2d of 
his " Works: 7 

Prof. Von Gorres (Professor in the University at Munich) says : 

" Swedenborg was not a man to be carried away by an unbridled 
imagination ; still less did he ever manifest, during his whole life, 
the slightest symptom of mental aberration." 

" Throughout the entire career of his learned researches and 
activity, we everywhere discover the pious and religious man, who 
in all his sayings and doings was intent upon good. . . . There 
nowhere appears in his writings a self-destroying contradiction ; 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. 15 

nothing abrupt, disjointed, or unconnected, or arbitrary, or illogical, 
such as is accustomed to accompany the phenomena of dreams, or 
the effusions of an unregulated fancy ; but everything that he 
writes is so connected and uninterrupted as to present a perfect 
whole." — Intellectual Repository (June, 1845). 

Dr. Immanttel Tafel (Professor of Philosophy, and Librarian 
in the University of Tubingen) says : 

"From all these testimonies it appears .... that Swedenborg 
was by far the greatest scholar of his country ; an adept in the 
oriental and occidental languages ; a thorough mathematician ; 
a successful mechanician ; a perfect metallurgist ; an accomplished 
statesman; a profound philosopher; a sound theologian; and a 
man in whose character were combined noble and pure sentiments, 
with a spotless, industrious, virtuous and holy life ; and who was 
adorned with all social virtues, so that he was venerated and 
beloved by all who knew him." — Preface to his translation of Swe- 
denborcfs Works. 

Rev. John Clowes (Rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, 
England, for more than fifty years, and author of more than 
forty works) says : 

"The theological writings of Swedenborg contain various and 
interesting explications of the Word of God, which is the divine 
fountain and foundation of all religion. Much wonderful and 
hitherto hidden information respecting religion is brought to light 
in them. Various religious errors are detected and exposed ; va- 
rious religious truths, too, are manifested, recommended and con- 
firmed. . . . The ministers of religion, therefore, must needs feel 
themselves particularly interested in, and in duty bound to a care- 
ful and candid examination of, these writings, and of the ground 
and reasonableness of those high titles by which they are an- 
nounced to the public." — In his u Affectionate Address to the Clergy," 

The same writer, in his autobiography, records the impression 
produced by the perusal of Sweden berg's True Christian Religion 
— the first of his works that he read. He says : 

"It is impossible for any language to express the full effect 



16 

wrought in my mind by the perusal of this wonderful book. . . . 
It seemed as if a continually increasing blaze of new and recreating 
light was poured forth on the delighted understanding. . . . All 
difficulties and doubts were removed respecting the Sacred Scrip- 
ture or Word of God, through the bright, and, heretofore unseen, 
manifestation of their spiritual and interior contents ; by virtue of 
which discovery apparent inconsistencies vanished, apparent con- 
tradictions were reconciled ; and*what before seemed trivial and 
nugatory, assumed a new and interesting aspect ; whilst the whole 
volume of Revelation was seen to be full of sanctity, of wisdom 
and of love from its divine Author, and also to be in perpetual 
connection with that Author, who is its inmost soul — its essential 
spirit and life." 



It should be stated here — for the fact is one which en- 
hances the value of the opinions cited — that the above tes- 
timonials, with three or four exceptions, are from authors 
who have never been in any way identified with that body of 
people known as "the New Church" or " Swedenborgians ; " 
and whose judgment, therefore, may be regarded as unbiassed 
by anything like denominational feeling. 

Although the last author here quoted, preached the doc- 
trines taught by Swedenborg for more than fifty years, he 
never withdrew from the Episcopal Church, and always op- 
posed a distinctively New Church organization. In a public 
address, " intended to point out the general design and tendency 
of Swedenborg's writings, and particularly to show that they 
do not authorize their readers in a separation " from the churches 
to which they belong, he enumerates some of the dangers 
attendant on such separation, emphasizing " particularly the 
danger of falling into a sectarian spirit." And he shows that, 
according to Swedenborg, "the New Church consists of the 
upright and sincere in heart among all people, nations and 
languages ; and forms one grand body or kingdom here on 
earth, whereof the Lord Jesus Christ is the Soul or Head, 
and of which all who worship Him in spirit and in truth are 
living members." 



SWEDENBOEG'S THEOLOGICAL WOEKS. 



Arcana Ccelestia: The Heavenly Arcana con- 
tained in the Holy Scriptures or Word of the Lord, unfolded ; 
together with Wonderful Things seen in the World of Spirits 
and in the Heaven of Angels. 10 vols., 8vo. Extra cloth. 
Price, $17.50. 

This is the largest and most comprehensive of Swedenborg's 
works. Its main purpose is to unfold the spiritual sense of the 
Sacred Scripture, especially of the books of Genesis and Exodus, 
and to make known the law of a Divine composition. An account 
of things seen and heard in the spiritual world is added at the 
close of each chapter ; as, concerning the process of dying, the 
'resurrection of man and his conscious entrance into the world of 
spirits ; the nature and form of the human soul ; heaven, and the 
nature and source of its joys ; the nature of hell and the character of 
its denizens ; mental or spiritual spheres, and their manifestations 
in the other world ; the light and heat in which the angels live ; 
their employments and social arrangements ; the beautiful scenery 
by which they are surrounded, and the law that determines it ; vis- 
ions and dreams, including those recorded in the Scripture ; the 
memory of spirits ; the last general judgment, and the manner of 
its accomplishment ; the condition in the other world of those who 
come there from heathen lands or countries outside of Christen- 
dom ; the Grand Man (or entire heaven of angels), and the cor- 
respondence of the innumerable societies composing it with the 
various parts and functions of the human body ; the origin and 
correspondence of diseases ; the spirits from other earths in our 
planetary system and in the starry heavens. These subjects are 
discoursed of as things learned from personal observation, or from 
actual and open intercourse with the spiritual world. 

Apocalypse Revealed; wherein are disclosed the 

Arcana there foretold, which have heretofore remained con- 
cealed. 2 vols., 8vo. Extra cloth. Price, $3.50. 
The design of this work is to unfold the spiritual and true mean- 
ing of the Book of Revelation, as that of Genesis and Exodus is 
2* 17 



18 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OP 

unfolded in the Arcana Coelestia. The author explains the sym- 
bols here employed, by the same law which he says underlies and 
determines all the phenomena of the spiritual world — the law 
of correspondence. He does not profess to give merely his own 
explanation of the meaning of this hitherto mysterious and unin- 
telligible book, but what he learned about it from the Lord 
through a special divine illumination. He says in the preface : 
" Not a few have labored at the explication of the Apocalypse ; 
but as they were unacquainted with the spiritual sense of the 
Word, they could not discern the arcana which it contains, seeing 
that these can only be unfolded by the spiritual sense." And 
referring to this treatise, and the method herein employed for 
ascertaining the true meaning of the Apocalypse, one of the deep- 
est thinkers and ablest writers on theology in our country has said : 
" We believe his [Swedenborg's] method is the only rational one 
for interpreting a purely symbolical book ; and that, in the work 
under consideration, it unfolds some of the profoundest truths that 
ever searched the nature of man." — Sears' Heart of Christ, p. 97. 
Appended to his explanation of each chapter, is a relation of 
things that the author says he heard and saw in the spiritual 
world — similar to his relations in the Arcana Coelestia. 

Heaven and its Wonders, the World of Spirits, 

and Hell, ; from things heard and seen. [Commonly called 
"Heaven and Hell."] With a copious Alphabetical Index. 
8vo. Extra cloth. Price, $1.50. 

This work claims to disclose the great facts and laws of the 
spiritual world. It describes the appearance and condition of 
both good and evil spirits, their arrangement into societies under 
the great law of spiritual affinity, and the various objects by which 
they are surrounded. It treats, among other things, of the form 
of heaven, in general and in particular; of the innumerable societies 
of which it is composed, their complete organic unity, and their 
correspondence with the various parts of the human body ; of the 
correspondence of things in the natural with those in the spiritual 
world ; of time and space in heaven ; of the Sun of heaven, and 
the nature of its light and heat ; of changes of state which the 



19 

angels experience ; of their habitations and garments, their lan- 
guage and writings, their innocence and wisdom, their govern- 
ment, worship, and state of peace ; of the origin of the angelic 
heaven, and its conjunction with the human race by means of the 
Word ; of the state of the heathen and young children, of the rich 
and poor, and of the wise and simple, in heaven ; of the occupa- 
tions of the angels ; of heavenly joy and happiness ; and of the 
immensity of heaven. It also treats of the World of Spirits, or 
first state of man after death, and the successive changes which he 
subsequently passes through ; of the nature of hell, and the true 
Scripture meaning of the Devil, Satan, hell fire, and the gnashing 
of teeth ; of the appearance, situation, and plurality of the hells ; 
and of the inconceivable cunning and dreadful wickedness of 
infernal spirits; — presenting altogether a complete system of 
Pneumatology, and one which those who have studied it thor- 
oughly, say, is in perfect harmony with the teachings of Scripture. 
The distinguished author of " The Heart of Christ " calls this 
work " one of the golden books," and says : " The time will come 
when this treatise will be as much read as Milton's Paradise Lost, 
and enter far more vitally into the popular conception of the life 
to come. The saintly Oberlin read it and preached it ; and the 
late Mrs. Browning, as we happen to know, was vastly delighted 
with its ideas, and tried to disseminate them among her English 
friends, and gain for them a lodgment within what she called 
* the husks of the old theology.' " — Monthly Religious Magazine for 
April, 1867. 

Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Provi- 
dence. With an Alphabetical Index. 8vo. Extra cloth. 
Price, $1.50. 

This work treats of the nature and operations of the Divine 
Providence, and unfolds the laws of order according to which 
God's moral government is regulated. It shows that his end in 
the creation of the world, was a heaven of angels from the human 
face ; that Divine Providence works not at random, but according 
to certain invariable Laws which are here disclosed; that it is 
universal, extending to the least things as well as the greatest ; that 
in all it does it has respect to what is eternal, and to things tern- 



20 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OP 

poral only for the sake of what is eternal ; that the laws of Per- 
mission are also among the laws of the Divine Providence ; that 
evils are permitted for the sake of the end, which is salvation ; 
that the Divine Providence is alike with the wicked and the good ; 
that every man may be reformed, and that there is no such thing 
as predestination to hell ; that the Lord cannot act against the 
Laws of his Providence, because to act against them would be to 
act against his Divine Love and Wisdom, consequently agains* 
Himself. 

Conjugial Love and its Chaste Delights; also 

Adulterous Love and its Sinful Pleasures. With an Alphabet- 
ical Index. 8vo. Extra cloth. Price, $1.50. 

A work which treats of the relation of the sexes, and their con- 
stitutional difference; of the indissoluble nature of true marriage; 
of the nature and origin of love truly conjugial ; of the marriage 
of the Lord and the Church, and its correspondence ; of the union 
of souls in a true marriage, so that they are no longer two, but 
one ; of the change of state with both sexes by marriage ; of the 
causes of conjugal disaffection, separations, and divorces ; of the 
causes of apparent love, friendship, and favor, and of iterated 
marriages. To which is added a treatise on Adulterous or Scor- 
tatory Love in its various degrees, showing it to be in its nature 
the opposite of Conjugial Love — as opposite as good is to evil, or 
as heaven is to hell. — Besides several interesting Memorabilia. 

Angelic "Wisdom concerning the Divine Love 

and Wisdom. 8vo. With Index. Extra cloth. Price, $1.25. 

This work contains the wisdom of the angels concerning the 
operations of the Divine Love and Wisdom in the creation of the 
universe, including man as the chief end of creation. It explains 
the trinal distinction which exists in all created things from 
the Trinity in God ; and illustrates it by many things in the 
natural world, and by the trinity in men and angels who are 
images of the Divine. It unfolds the Doctrine of Degrees, and 
explains the three discrete degrees of the human mindj showing 



21 

when and how these degrees are opened, and what is effected by 
their opening. It further reveals the origin of evil uses, or of 
the things in nature which correspond to them ; also the origin, 
design, and tendency of good uses, or the things corresponding to 
them. It is of this work, or of the "Doctrine of Degrees" herein 
discussed, that the author of " The Heart of Christ " says : " When 
the reader gets the pith of its philosophy, he sees the amazing 
sweep of the principle set forth, and its constructive power in 
theology, and that it opens a sublime chapter in the history and 
plan of the Creation." — Foregleams and Foreshadows of Immortality. 
And the Chicago Evening Journal (1867) says : " From the reading 
of this book, Christian love and Christian unity will be better 
understood and appreciated." 

Miscellaneous Theological "Works; containing 

1st. The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine; 2d. A 
Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church ; 3d. The 
Intercourse between the Soul and the Body ; 4th. The White 
Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse, Chap, xix.; 5th. An Ap- 
pendix to the Treatise on the White Horse ; 6th. The Earths 
in the Universe; 7th. The Last Judgment; and 8th. A Con- 
tinuation concerning the Last Judgment. 1 vol., 8vo. Extra 
cloth. Price, $1,75. 

The First of these Treatises contains a summary statement of 
the doctrines of the New Church, with copious references to the 
Arcana Ccelestia, where the same doctrines are more fully unfolded. 
The Second exhibits some of the more important of these doc- 
trines in contrast with those of the former Christian Church. The 
Third treats of the nature and laws of Influx, showing how the 
spiritual flows into the natural world, and the manner in which 
the soul operates upon the body. The Fourth and Fifth explain 
the spiritual meaning of the text in the Apocalypse, " I saw heaven 
opened, and behold a white horse;" and contain copious refer- 
ences to the Arcana Ccelestia, where this and various other related 
topics are more extensively treated. The Sixth describes the ap- 
pearance, character, and mode of life of the inhabitants of other 
earths in the universe, with whom the author became acquainted 
through his intercourse with spirits from those earths. The Seventh 



22 PESCKIPTIVE CATALOGUE OP 

and Eighth explain the nature and manner of the Last General 
Judgment in the World of Spirits, of which the author claims to 
have been an eye-witness, and which, he says, occurred in the year 
1757 ; when also the New Dispensation referred to in the Apoca- 
lypse under the image of the New Jerusalem coming down from 
God out of heaven, commenced. 

These, as originally published by the author, were separate 
treatises. 

The Four Leading Doctrines of the New Church; 

viz., Concerning the Lord ; the Sacred Scripture ; Faith ; and 

Life. Containing, also, Swedenborg's Answers to Nine Questions 

chiefly relating to the Lord, the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit. 

1 vol., 8vo. Extra cloth. Price, $1.25. 

These also, like the foregoing Miscellaneous works, were origi- 
nally published as so many separate treatises. The First shows 
that the Sacred Scripture throughout, treats of the Lord who is 
himself the living Word ; that it was Jehovah God who assumed 
humanity according to his own divine order ; and that, by a series 
of temptations, the last of which was the passion of the cross, 
He at last glorified the humanity He assumed ; and that in his 
glorified or Divine Humanity He is now the supreme and only 
Redeemer and Saviour — "God with us." 

The Second treats of the Sacred Scripture or Word, showing 
that it is the very Divine Truth itself; that there is a spiritual 
sense within that of the letter, like the soul within the body ; that 
the literal sense is the basis, containant and support of the spiritual 
sense ; that by means of this sense man has conjunction with the 
Lord and association with the angels ; that the church exists from 
the Word ; that the character or quality of the church at any time 
is according to men's understanding of the Word ; and that by 
means of the Word, spiritual light is communicated to those who 
are without the pale of Christendom. 

The Third treats of Faith, showing that it is an inward acknowl- 
edgment of the truth; that this acknowledgment, however, can 
exist only with such as are in charity ; therefore there can be no 
such thing as genuine faith where there is no charity ; that those 
who are in faith separate from charity, are meant in the Word hy 



SWEDENBOKG ? S theological woeks. 23 

the Philistines, by the goats in Daniel and Matthew, and by the 
dragon in the Apocalypse ; and that faith alone, or separated from 
charity, is destructive of the church and everything belonging to it. 
The Fourth treats of Life ; showing that all religion has relation 
to life, and that the life of religion is to do good ; and that so far as 
any one shuns evils as sins, he loves truth, does good, has faith, 
and is a spiritual man. 

The Teue Cheistian Religion; containing the 

Universal Theology of the New Church, foretold by the Lord 
in the Apocalypse xxi. 1, 2. With the Coronis and a copious 
Index. 1 vol., 8vo. Extra cloth. Price, $2.75. 
This is the last work that Swedenborg wrote. And it is the only 
one in which he professes to give " the entire theology of the New 
Church " signified by the Apocalyptic New Jerusalem. It may, 
therefore, be regarded as a complete and authorized statement of . 
the doctrines of this Church. It is divided into fourteen chapters 
which treat of the following subjects: I. — God, the Creator. 
II. — The Lord, the Eedeemer. III. — The Holy Spirit and the 
Divine Operation (treating also of the Divine Trinity). IV. — 
The Sacred Scripture or Word of the Lord. V. — The Decalogue 
explained as to its external and internal sense. VI. — Faith. 
VII. — Charity and Good Works. VIII. — Free Will. IX.- 
Eepentance. X. — Eeformation and Eegeneration. XI. — Impu- 
tation. XII. — Baptism. XIII. — The Holy Supper. XIV.— 
The Consummation of the Age, the Second Coming of the Lord, 
the New Heaven and the New Church. There are also, inter- 
spersed between these chapters, some seventy or more relations 
(called Memorabilia) of things seen and heard in the spiritual 
world, a supplement concerning that world, and a copious Index 
to the whole work of about 100 pages. 

"Every catholic theologian," says the New York Independent, 
(1868,) "who desires to trace theology to its source, and to acquaint 
himself with the teachings of other churches than his own, should, 
if his means enable him to do so, make room for this work upon 
his library shelves." 

The Publishers will furnish the COMPLETE SET of the above works 
(19 vols., elegantly hound) at the low price of $30.00. 



PUBLICATIONS OP CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFPELFINGEE. 



Thf New View of Hell ; Showing its Nature, Where- 
abouts, Duration, and How to Escape it. By B. F. 
Barrett. i2mo. Extra cloth, $1.00. 

CONTENTS.— I. The New Dispensation. II. The Old Doc- 
trine of Hell. III. The New View. IV. The Scripture Ar- 
gument — Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and the Lake of Fire. V. 
Hell, the chosen Home of all who go there. VI. The Dura- 
tion of Hell. VII. Some Evidence of its Duration — Philo- 
sophical and Scriptural. VIII. Why cannot the Ruling 
Love be changed after Death? IX. Displays of the Divine 
Benignity in Hell. X. Is Hell to undergo any Change ? If 
so, of what Nature ? XI. The Devil and Satan. XII. Prac- 
tical Bearings of the Question. XIII. How to Escape Hell. 

"A succinct and intelligible statement of Swedenborg's doctrine 
of retribution. It contains . . . much that is profoundly true, and 
much that is exceedingly suggestive." — New York Independent. 

"A really valuable contribution to the world's stock of religious 
ideas. . . . The book, taken as a whole, is of great interest, and we 
commend it to our readers as worthy of attentive perusal." — New 
York Sun. 

" There is not a Christian man or woman in the world, who would 
not be benefited by the reading of this book." — Westfield News- 
Letter. 

" In ' The New View of Hell ' is put forth one of the most striking 
and pregnant of Swedenborg's thoughts — that, too, whose influence 
on orthodoxy has been most observable — his conception of Hell as 
a state, not a place, and as such, the chosen home of all who go 
there." — New York Evening Mail. 

" The author illustrates and enforces the main idea of his volume 
with great fulness of detail and frequent beauty of expression. His 
discussion is conducted with an admirable sweetness of spirit, unusual 
in theological controversy." — New York Tribune. 



Lectures on the New Dispensation, signified by the 
New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse. By B. F. Barrett. 
i2mo. Extra cloth, $1.25. 

The design of this volume is to unfold and elucidate the leading 
doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg. And it is considered one 
of the best works for this purpose ever published. The London In- 
tellectual Repository calls it " an admirable work for making one 
acquainted with the doctrines of the New Church [as taught by 
Swedenborg]." 

4 



